VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHYN #1678 2581345
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 151345Z SEP 09
FM AMEMBASSY SANAA
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 2772

UNCLAS SANAA 001678 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR NEA/ARP AMACDONALD, DRL JBARGHOUT AND MEPI KBARTELS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM SOCI YM
SUBJECT: FROM YEMEN, ANOTHER TALE OF WOE: 12-YEAR-OLD CHILD 
BRIDE DIES IN LABOR 
 
REF: SANAA 314 
 
¶1.  (SBU) A 12-year-old girl died on September 11 after three 
days of painful labor in Hudeidah governorate.  The girl, 
Fawzia Abdullah Yousef, was married to a 24-year-old laborer 
at the age of 11.  Her case became public when a local human 
rights worker from the Seyaj organization for child rights 
came across her by chance at the local hospital in al-Zahra 
district.  Early marriage is prevalent across Yemen, where, 
according to the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor, more 
than one-quarter of girls are married before age 15; many, 
like famous child bride Nujood Ali, are married as young as 
age eight.  Despite the well-known detrimental health and 
social effects of early marriage, it continues to be a 
widespread and legal practice across Yemen, but especially in 
the impoverished and fiercely traditional northern 
governorates. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Seyaj employees told PolOff on September 15 that 
the organization is planning to publicize the story widely 
after the Eid holiday in late September and will increase 
pressure on Parliament to pass a law regulating a minimum age 
for marriage of at least 17 (reftel).  (Note: Parliament 
passed an early-marriage law in February, but before it could 
go to President Saleh for signature, religiously conservative 
MPs forced it back into the constitutional committee for 
review.  There has been no progress on the law since that 
time.  End Note.)  Abdulkarim Ahmed al-Wazzan, General 
Director of International Organizations and Reports at the 
Ministry of Human Rights (MOHR), told PolOff on September 15 
that the ministry was not aware of the case, but he would 
personally follow up with the Minister of Human Rights to 
make sure that the MOHR responded appropriately. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Fawzia's story is but the latest in a string of 
painful stories of child brides in Yemen forced into marriage 
and motherhood prematurely.  On the whole, Yemeni society 
continues to cling to the tradition of child marriage, which 
conservatives defend with religious justification.  Post 
believes that to combat the problem of child marriage, the 
ROYG and civil society must (1) pressure Parliament to 
finally pass the child marriage law and set a legal basis for 
ending the practice and (2) conduct widespread public 
education campaigns, focusing on imams and community leaders, 
about the detrimental effects of early marriage and the 
religious justification for postponing childbirth until girls 
have reached maturity.  END COMMENT. 
SECHE