Child marriage a taboo for Turkey, Dutch Princess Mabel van Oranje says.

Child marriage a taboo for Turkey, Dutch Princess Mabel van Oranje says.(HD).

Child marriage is a fact in Turkey, with 28 percent of all marriages involving children under 18, but it remains taboo and laws restricting it are not implemented, the International Girls Not Brides head and Dutch Princess Mabel van Oranje has said.

Oranje’s comments were made yesterday at a meeting titled “Challenging Impossible” held by the Sabancı Foundation in Istanbul.

The contentious issue of child brides in Turkey is not getting any better, according to Oranje, who blasted the current situation in Turkey and the lack of headway being made in policy on the matter.
“The Turkish Parliament’s Committee on Equal Opportunity for Women and Men wrote a report in 2009.

It’s a very interesting report and it has a series of very good recommendations, but unfortunately little action is taking place to implement these recommendations,” she said.

The Dutch princess said the issue remained a taboo and that first of all acknowledgement that child marriage existed and was harmful for children and society was necessary.

“We need to break the taboo of not talking about this issue and we all need to have role in abolishing it,” Oranje added.

According to UNICEF, Turkey has one of the highest rates of child marriage in Europe, but the figures vary depending on the amount of data available and the region surveyed. For example, according to a national study, the average national rate of child marriage is 28 percent, but it reaches as high as 41 percent in the eastern and southeastern regions.

The philanthropy seminar took place in at the Sabancı Foundation headquarters with the attendance of Oranje and Dr. Tererai Trent from Zimbabwe’s Tinogona (Achievable) Foundation.

In 2012, the Sabancı Foundation became partners with the Girls Not Brides platform in the struggle to end child marriages in Turkey.

“Sabancı cannot do it by itself, we all need to be involved,” Oranje said, adding that a law against such marriages existed but was not being implemented.

“We don’t know very well [the real data]. There is a lack of info. Some 28 percent of girls marry before they turn 18. But we don’t know the exact data because these marriages are done through religious marriages, which are not registered. They are not legally recognized,” she said.

“It is happening more in the east of the country but it’s also happening in the west in cities like in Istanbul,” she added.

Meanwhile, Sabancı Holding Chairwoman Güler Sabancı said girls should continue their education until the age of at least 18 to demand their own options, as this was their most fundamental human right, in a message sent to the attendees.

“Sometimes the problem’s dimensions require a global organization and action, it is hard to achieve but not impossible. What we need is a social leader who can realize a radical change and challenges impossibilities,” Sabancı said.

Over one in every four brides is a child, as families are increasingly applying to the court to change the date of birth of their daughters so they can legally marry, an association of Turkish female lawyers warned on May 4.

The legal age for marriage in Turkey was recently raised to 17 from 15, but the commission members said this limit should be increased to 18.

On average, 14 million girls get married every year around the world, which means that every two seconds one girl under 18 gets married.Hmmm....Welcome to 'Islamist Turkey'

Iran - Lawmakers Pass Bill Allowing Men to Marry Adopted Daughters From Age 13

Iran - Lawmakers Pass Bill Allowing Men to Marry Adopted Daughters From Age 13.(Aina).

Parliamentarians in Iran have passed a bill to protect the rights of children which includes a clause that allows a man to marry his adopted daughter and while she is as young as 13 years.

Activists have expressed alarm that the bill, approved by parliament on Sunday, opens the door for the caretaker of a family to marry his or her adopted child if a court rules it is in the interests of the individual child.

Iran's Guardian Council, a body of clerics and jurists which vets all parliamentary bills before the constitution and the Islamic law, has yet to issue its verdict on the controversial legislation.

To the dismay of rights campaigners, girls in the Islamic republic can marry as young as 13 provided they have the permission of their father. Boys can marry after the age of 15.

In Iran, a girl under the age of 13 can still marry, but needs the permission of a judge. At present, however, marrying stepchildren is forbidden under any circumstances.

As many as 42,000 children aged between 10 and 14 were married in 2010, according to the Iranian news website Tabnak. At least 75 children under the age of 10 were wed in Tehran alone.

Shadi Sadr, a human rights lawyer with the London-based group Justice for Iran, told the Guardian she feared the council would feel safe to put its stamp of approval on the bill while Iran's moderate president, Hassan Rouhani, draws the attention of the press during his UN visit to New York.

"This bill is legalising paedophilia," she warned. "It's not part of the Iranian culture to marry your adopted child. Obviously incest exists in Iran more or less as it happens in other countries across the world, but this bill is legalising paedophilia and is endangering our children and normalising this crime in our culture."

She added: "You should not be able to marry your adopted children, full stop. If a father marries his adopted daughter who is a minor and has sex, that's rape."

According to Sadr, officials in Iran have tried to play down the sexual part of such marriages, saying it is in the bill to solve the issue of hijab [head scarf] complications when a child is adopted.

An adopted daughter is expected to wear the hijab in front of her father, and a mother should wear it in front of her adopted son if he is old enough, Sadr said.

"With this bill, you can be a paedophile and get your bait in the pretext of adopting children," Sadr said. Some experts believe the new bill is contradictory to Islamic beliefs and would not pass the Guardian Council.

An initial draft of the bill, which had completely banned marriage with adopted children, was not approved by the council and it is feared that MPs introduced the condition for marriage to satisfy the jurists and clergymen. This is why Sadr fears it can pass the council this time.

The bill has prompted backlash in Iran with the reformist newspaper, Shargh, publishing an article warning about its consequences. "How can someone be looking after you and at the same time be your husband?" the article asked.

Shiva Dolatabadi, head of Iran's society for protecting children's rights, has also warned that the bill implies that the parliament is legalising incest. "You cannot open a way in which the role of a father or a mother can be mixed with that of an spouse," she said, according to Shargh. "Children can't be safe in such a family."

Execution of juvenile offenders in Iran has also been in spotlight in recent years amid confusion between the age of majority -- when minors cease to be legally considered children -- and the minimum age of criminal responsibility, which is 15 for boys and nine for girls under Iranian law.
By Saeed Kamali Dehghan
http://www.theguardian.com

"Yes We Can" - White House will continue giving military aid to countries with child soldiers.

"Yes We Can" - White House will continue giving military aid to countries with child soldiers.(RT).

The determination, authorized by President Barack Obama and addressed to Secretary of State John Kerry, says that it is in the national interest of the US to waive the application of a provision of the Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008 with respect to Chad, South Sudan and Yemen.

That provision, section 404(a), prohibits the US from providing assistance to or licensing the direct commercial sale of military equipment to the government of any country identified as having children under the age of 18 participating in armed operations.

Additionally, the White House has determined that it is in the best interest of the US if that prohibition is also waived in part with respect to the Democratic Republican of the Congo in order for America to continue providing International Military Education and Training (IMET) and nonlethal excess defense articles.

The determination will also let the DRC receive licenses for direct commercial sales of nonlethal defense articles. The White House also said it is waiving sections of the CSPA so that the US can allow Somalia to buy nonlethal defense articles and receive IMET and the continued assistance from America under the Peacekeeping Operations authority “for logistical support and troop stipends.”

Presidential Determination, courtesy of Think Progress:

According to Think Progress writer Hayes Brown, the blanket waiver applied to Chad, South Sudan and Yemen will essentially allow those nations to receive as much military assistance as possible from the US, while Somalia and the DRC will only be granted lethal aid in support of peacekeeping missions currently underway in those countries.

The six nations that will benefit from the waiver make up the majority of a list of ten countries determined by the Department of State to be using children soldiers. Those that have been determined to employ children but are not having the prohibition waived are Burma (Myanmar), the Central African Republic, Sudan and Rwanda.
But despite the State Department’s awareness of those activities, this isn’t the first time the Obama administration has waived provisions of the CSPA — even with regards to those countries. Last October, Pres. Obama waived penalties against Libya, South Sudan and Yemen, and again provided a partial waiver for the DRC.

This week’s determination in fact marks the fourth consecutive year that Obama has lifted restrictions on a law only five years old.

When the White House announced its determination last year, Jo Becker of Human Rights Watch told Foreign Policy’s The Cable that "While the administration has stepped up its attention to child soldiers, it continues to squander the leverage it has through the Child Soldiers Prevention Act.”
"By giving waivers to nearly all of the countries that have been affected by the law, the president is telling military allies that ending the use of child soldiers is not that important,” said Becker, the director of the group’s children’s rights advocacy office.

On Monday this week, however, Becker authored a statement on the Human Rights Watch website applauding the Obama administration’s decision to scale back, in part, assistance to Somalia and the DRC — countries that were allowed to receive even greater aid from the US in years past.
“The US government announced today it will withhold military assistance from four countries – the Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia and Rwanda – because of their recruitment and use of child soldiers. This is a big improvement from previous years when the Obama administration routinely allowed governments to receive US military assistance even while they had child soldiers in their forces,” Becker wrote.

According to Becker, the White House’s stance to provide some countries with only some support may actually help remove those nations of children soldiers in the long run.

“Last year we saw how the law could really work. The Obama administration announced it would withhold foreign military financing and training from a Congolese battalion until Congo signed an agreement with the United Nations to end its use of child soldiers. The Congo had been dragging its feet on signing the plan for seven years, but signed the plan only five days after the US announcement,” Becker wrote.

“This year, the administration will withhold at least some assistance from four countries, not just one. This will put real pressure on these countries to take some serious steps to end their use of child soldiers,” she said. “The Obama administration’s attention to child soldiers is welcome, but there’s still more it can do to bring an end to this horrible practice.”

According to Becker, Yemen will be the recipient of more than $20 million foreign military financing from the US. In 2010, the Obama administration said it was necessary for the US to continue providing Yemen with assistance because cutting off funding “would seriously jeopardize the Yemeni government's ability to conduct special operations and counterterrorism missions, and create a dangerous level of in the country and the region.”  

Video - Father of 13-Year-Old Egyptian Boy Married Off to 10-Year-Old Girl: "You're Never Too Young for Marriage"

Video - Father of 13-Year-Old Egyptian Boy Married Off to 10-Year-Old Girl: "You're Never Too Young for Marriage"

Europe 'Candidate' Turkey and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 240 years prison sentence asked for seven children.

Europe 'Candidate' Turkey and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 240 years prison sentence asked for seven children.(Firat).240 years prison sentence is asked for seven children in Mersin who are accused of “membership of an illegal organization” and “making propaganda for an illegal organization”. Facebook sharings, mobese (mobile electronic system integration) footages, secret witness statements and joining the May Day are the evidences the prosecutor put forward as accusation against the minors.
Hardly a day passes without detention and arrest of Kurdish children in Mersin as the ruling AKP government holds the record of political arrests against children for crimes in connection with terrorism. Including Pozantı victim children who have been released recently from the Sincan Prison in Ankara, many children are subjected to severe punishments on the grounds of committing a crime linked to a terror organization. The most recent prosecution targeted seven children who were taken into custody in May, accused of “opposing the law on meetings and demonstrations”, “holding explosive substances”, “violation of freedom of labour” and “damaging public property”. Public Prosecutor Ünsal Demirci asked a total of 240 years prison sentence and continuation of detention for seven children who have been tried without any concrete evidences. The accusation by Public Prosecutor Ünsal Demirci was accepted by Mersin 2nd Court for Juveniles which also refused the release demand for children, ruling the first trial of the case to be held on 8 July. Human Rights Association (IHD) Central Executive Board member lawyer Eyüp Sabri Öncel reacted against the severe sentence asked for children and underlined that accused children should be tried without arrest in accordance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.Hmmmm....Are Kurdish children not human, don't they suffer and bleed like our children?Read the full 'story' here.

UK - Muslim woman beat girl, 10, with steel ladle for not reading enough of Koran.

UK - Muslim woman beat girl, 10, with steel ladle for not reading enough of Koran.(DM).A Muslim woman who repeatedly beat a 10-year-old girl with a steel ladle for not reading enough verses of the Koran is facing jail today. Asia Parveen, 31 brandished a knife at the child after accusing her of lying about her prayers. Parveen, who was five months pregnant at the time, also forced the girl to stand with her arms outstretched for four hours, Snaresbrook Crown Court heard.
The girl, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, escaped from the house in Stoke Newington, north London, and police found her alone at a bus stop in Waltham Forest, east London, almost four hours later in the early hours of the morning. Doctors identified 56 injuries when she was examined at hospital, Parveen, who is a mother-of-three, accepted causing some of the injuries with the ten inch cooking spoon but said others must have been caused when the girl 'fell over.' 
Prosecutor Tom Nicholson told the court an argument started between Parveen and the girl on August 15 last year during Ramadan. 'The girl was praying from the Koran and Ms Parveen accused her of lying about how many of the verses she had read,' he said. 'She was 10 at the time. Ms Parveen took a metal spoon about 10 inches in size and the Crown's case is that she hit the child with it repeatedly over a half an hour period, causing extensive bruising over both arms, her legs and head. 'The Crown's case is that Ms Parveen said she was going to kill the girl and ran to get a knife from the kitchen. 'The girl had no alternative but to leave at around 10pm. 'She got a bus and a train and it was about 1.50am when the police found her at a bus stop in Broadway Parade, Waltham Forest. 'She was on her own and extremely cold. She was taken to hospital and an examination found she had suffered 56 injuries.' Parveen admitted a single count of child cruelty but insisted that she only used the spoon once or twice on the girl's arms and bottom. She claimed the other injuries had been the result of the girl falling over. Parveen also denied threatening to kill the 10-year-old or picking up a knife. Judge Martyn Zeidman accepted Parveen's basis of plea, saying it would not be in the public interest for the child to give evidence. 'The defendant has accepted she behaved in the wrong way towards the girl and there is absolutely no doubt that she behaved disgracefully,' the judge said. 'Before the violence, she says had been asked to stretch her arms up in the air for a period of four hours. 'She says she was hit all over with a spoon on her arms, legs, head and back about 20 times. 'The basis of plea is that the defendant only admits causing injuries to the girl's arms and bottom. 'On the face of it, the defence assertion is incredible. But I don't regard it in the public interest to make the child give evidence. 'In any view, the defendant has behaved in an absolutely disgraceful way, and what an irony that the child was encouraged to behave in a godly fashion when this was far from godly. 'But I undertake to sentence the defendant on her version of events and avoid further distress to the child.' Adjourning the case until June 15 for reports, Judge Zeidman told Parveen: 'I'm releasing you on bail but that gives no indication on what will be the eventual sentence. 'All options are open so you must not assume that because you got bail you will necessarily avoid an immediate prison sentence.' Parveen, of Hackney, north London, will be sentenced on June 15.Read the full story here.

Saudi Arabia - Girls ready for marriage at 12 - Saudi Grand Mufti.

Saudi Arabia - Girls ready for marriage at 12 - Saudi Grand Mufti.(AB).The Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia has reportedly voiced his support for the marriage of under-age females in the kingdom, while condemning those who seek to raise the legal marriage age. A girl is ready to marry at 10 or 12 years of age according to Islam, London-based Al Hayat reported Sheikh Abdul-Aziz Al Sheikh as saying, adding that Islamic law is not repressive to women. "Those who call for raising the age of marriage to 25 are absolutely mistaken,"Al Sheikh said in a lecture at the faculty of Imam Mohamed bin Saud Islamic University in Riyadh. He added: "Our mothers and grandmothers got married when they were barely 12. Good upbringing makes a girl ready to perform all marital duties at that age." The Grand Mufti’s statement came following discussions by the Justice Ministry to set a minimum age for marriage. The conservative Kingdom is facing strong pressure to raise the minimum age for marriage, following international criticism of cases involving children forced into wedlock with older men. In 2010, for instance, the Saudi Human Rights Commission, a government affiliated group, hired a lawyer to help a 12-year old girl divorce her 80-year old husband.Hmmmm.......Perhaps call "Apostasy Amnesty International"?Read the full story here.