Kongra Star publishes report on underage marriage

Underage marriage is a social problem that still exists in many regions of the world. This problem, which stems from a patriarchal mentality, must be overcome, as it has many negative consequences for women and society as a whole.

Kongra Star has published a report that puts a focus on the reasons and the impact of underage marriage on young women and society.

The report underlined how “it is well known that women and children are the main victims of conflicts and wars, where they are physically, psychologically and politically exploited and are often victims of human trafficking. We have seen that in times of war, if women have not organized their own self-defense mechanisms, they are often captured as “spoils of war” and war slaves. For young girls, in most cases, this means forced marriage in violation of their human rights. Parents’ fear

that something like this could happen to their daughter often leads them to marry her off as a preventive measure. The number of marriages of minors has increased by a large percentage during the ongoing Syrian crisis. The worsening political crisis and instability in the region led to a lack of access to education, poorer economic conditions, and an increased risk of molestation, rape, sex trafficking, and prostitution. All of these conditions led families to arrange early marriages to protect their young girls from these risks.”

The report recalled that the Women’s Law of the Women’s Commission in the Autonomous Administration of Northern and Eastern Syria is one of the mechanisms to prevent early marriages. “With the outbreak of the revolution in Rojava and the active participation of women in it, it was able to analyze the problems of society, especially in relation to women, and the reasons for the breakdown of social relations due to the basic structure of society, namely the family and its failure to form on a solid basis. In this context, the Women’s Council has agreed to formulate a law that upholds the rights of women and the family in general. For this reason, the Women’s Council has drafted the Women’s Law, which establishes a set of principles and moral controls, as well as a mechanism to hold parties who violate the law accountable. One of the main issues the law focused on was the marriage of underage girls.”