Nada Al-Ahdal

Nada Al-Ahdal (born March 3, 2003 in Zabid , Yemen) is a Yemeni human rights activist . She became known for twice refusing a forced marriage arranged by her parents . In 2013, she published a video on the Internet platform YouTube in which she condemned child marriage and describes the situation in Yemen. The video sparked a public debate on forced marriage in Yemen and other countries.

First marriage pact

At the age of 10 years and 3 months, Nada Al-Ahdal was to be married to a wealthy emigrant. At the time of the agreement, the man was 26 years old, 16 years older than al-Ahdal. For the marriage, the man was to pay Nada Al-Ahdal's family an amount of $ 2,000. Her parents accepted the money from the applicant. But Nada's uncle told the future husband that al-Ahdal was nowhere near humble enough for him. Nada's uncle said: "When I heard about the groom, I panicked, Nada was not even 11 years old (...), I couldn't allow myself to be married and to destroy their future." Descriptions of the uncle Nada escaped the forced marriage. She then lived with her parents for a while, but then fled to her uncle. Al-Ahdal then ran away from home to avoid forced marriage and was picked up by her uncle, an assembly and graphics technician at a television station. Nada Al-Ahdal claims her parents threatened to kill her if she refused the marriage pact. Her parents denied this.

In 2013, the then eleven-year-old Nada Al-Ahdal uploaded the video to YouTube, which should bring her worldwide fame. The video is approximately 2 minutes and 30 seconds long and has been viewed many times. In the video, Nada Al-Ahdal accused her parents of wanting to marry their daughter in exchange for money, thereby condemning the principle of forced marriage, which is widespread in their country. The video was published in her native Arabic , but due to the great media response it was quickly translated, provided with English subtitles and thus made widely accessible. Many stars on social networks shared their video. In seven days, the video was viewed seven million times on YouTube.

Second marriage pact

Nada Al-Ahdal's sister was also forced into marriage by her parents when she was 14 years old. She started her video with the words: “It is true that I ran away from my family, I can no longer live with them. Enough, I want to live with my uncle. What about childhood innocence ? Did the kids get it wrong? ”She went on to say that she would rather die than be married, citing lost educational opportunities, the suicides of young brides and their untimely death. She also talked about her aunt, who got married at the age of 14, was molested by her much older husband, and drank gasoline and set herself on fire in desperation.

Controversy

Many media outlets in the Middle East have made al-Ahdal's demands or proclaimed a slander of Yemeni and Islamic customs . The Yemen Post has charged her with destroying Islamic customs. Arab online magazine Majalla claims that she was using her uncle's media connections to spread her opinion.

influence

Al-Ahdal's claims have sparked discussion of child marriage in the international media. Articles from around the world cite Human Rights Watch's findings that Yemen has no minimum age for marriage and that about half of all wives in Yemen were married as children. In an article on al-Ahdal, the International Political Forum noted, “Some statistics can help put their story into context: According to the United Nations , one in nine girls in developing countries is married at age 15 and an estimated 14.2 Millions of girls a year are likely to become child brides in the next decade. "

Al-Ahdal and the Child Marriage Pacts have been featured on CNN , the BBC , The Huffington Post and other media.

The topic of child marriage in the film

On December 3, 2015, the story of the girl who stopped for child marriage was published in French by Mrs. Michel-lafon, written by al-Ahdal and the Yemeni director Khadija al-Salami . The first version was published in French with the title La rosée du matin . Al-Ahdal took part in the film, I'm Nojoom, age 10 and divorced.

MBC1 has produced an extensive investigative press of its history.

Web links

• Memri TV videos: 11-Year-Old Yemeni Girl Nada Al-Ahdal Flees Home to Avoid Forced Marriage: I'd Rather Kill Myself. July 24, 2013
• Memri TV videos: {New Interview} Yemeni girl Nada Al Ahdal from YouTube wants education, not marriage. July 31, 2013
• Clarion Project: Remember Nada Al-Ahdal? Here She Is Today. January 24, 2018
• Nada Al Ahdal - Twitter.com

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Eleanor Goldberg: Nada Al-Ahdal, Yemeni Girl Who Evaded Child Marriage, Says She'd 'Rather Die' Than Get Married Off (VIDEO) . In: Huffington Post . July 22, 2013 ( huffingtonpost.com [accessed April 8, 2014]).
2. ↑ Video Against Forced Marriage: Too Smart to Be True . ( tagesspiegel.de [accessed on August 26, 2017]).
3. ↑ Catherina Shakdam: A Deception Comes Undone . In: The Majalla , July 28, 2013. Archived from the original on April 27, 2014 Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved April 11, 2014.  
4. ↑ Mark Duell: Is 11-year-old 'escaped child bride' who took the internet by storm telling the whole truth? Doubts emerge about Yemeni girl's story . In: Daily Mail , July 31, 2013. Retrieved April 11, 2014. 
5. ↑ Martin Gehlen: Child marriage: escape into forced marriage . In: The time . September 1, 2016, ISSN  0044-2070 ( zeit.de [accessed August 26, 2017]).
6. ^ Yemen child marriage scandal; news organizations continue to propagate Nada's false allegations . In: Yemen Post , July 25, 2013. Retrieved April 11, 2014. 
7. ^ Early marriage fears of Nada Al-Ahdal are fabricated. The Yemeni government took it to court to abolish child marriages but failed to due so due to some men who refused to have it abolished and said 'I dont see why this is such a big matter, Muhammad married a 9 year old girl' Says the yemeni couGO . In: Yemen Post , July 22, 2013. Retrieved April 11, 2014. 
8. ^ Yemen: Child Marriage Spurs Abuse of Girls and Women . Human Rights Watch. Retrieved April 11, 2014.
9. ^ 11-Year-Old Yemeni Girl Nada Al-Ahdal: 'I'm not an item for sale; I'm a human being and I would rather die than get married at this age ' . In: International Political Forum . Archived from the original on April 13, 2014 Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved April 11, 2014.  
10. ↑ Vincent Louvet: Michel LAFON - La rosée du matin, Nada Al-Ahdal . Retrieved August 8, 2017.
11. ↑ فيديو: الطفلة "ندى" تفلت من الزواج بأعجوبة ثم تصبح ناشطة حقوقية ( Arabic ) Archived from the original on August 9, 2017. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved August 8, 2017. 
12. ↑ She was kidnapped by al-Qaeda, placed under house arrest and arrested by Interior Ministry. In: youtube.com. May 31, 2017. Retrieved August 8, 2017 .