[ePrayer – Pray for the child brides in Yemen]

Yemen’s rights minister will press for the minimum age of marriage to be raised to 18, after the reported death of a young girl on her wedding night. Rawan, aged eight, was said to have died earlier this month from internal bleeding after sexual intercourse, following her marriage to a man in his 40s. Activists have claimed the bill was shelved when ultra-conservative legislators from the Islamist Al-Islah party blocked it.

The local activist has been involved in a campaign against child brides in Yemen, a nation ravaged by years of strife and widespread poverty. Many impoverished families arranged their girls married in early age to relieve the financial burden and made the bride gift as a source of income. There is no clear definition in the country of what constitutes a child, making it difficult to battle the practice. It said that 14 per cent of girls in Yemen were married before the age of 15, and 52 per cent before 18, citing Yemeni and 2006 data from the UN. In some rural areas, girls as young as eight are sometimes given in marriage to much older men. [AFP]

Pray for the Child Brides in Yemen:

• Pray that the government can address the problem by rising the legal minimum marriage age to 18 and implementing the law effectively. Pray for an end to the culture practice of Child Brides.
• May God protect the girls in Yemen. Pray that their educational rights and holistic development will be secured, and they can live out the dignity and values granted by God.