- الإثنين, 30 يونيو, 2014

During the session, Ms. Afrah Al-Qershi, the deputy to Executive Director, emphasized on the importance of joining forces to advocate establishing the safe age of marriage. She stated that the objective of this session is to define the health and social consequences of early marriage; the strong family depends on two pillars, one of those pillars is the mother and mother should be able to hold responsibility. She urged the Constitutional Drafting Committee (CDC) to establish the Safe Age of Marriage at 18 years old.

From his part, Mr. Khaled Al-Kohlani, the health manager of Saudi German Hospital (SGH) in Sana’a said that the early marriage might endanger the health of young girls if they get pregnant. He stated the urgency of child protection through determining the safe age of marriage and work on constitutional article and other by-laws to achieve this goal.

Dr. Taha Al-Obali, the representative of HCMC and psychological healthcare professor assistant in Ibb University, delivered a speech about the social sequences of early marriage on the individuals and community, he urges official authorities to combat this tradition norm. The consequences of early marriage do not affect only the underage girls but also the children, family and community as whole. The key social issues in Yemen include divorcing, family disintegration, girl’s dropout of schools and early marriage. He called to form lobby groups to advocate enacting and enforcing laws to establish the safe age of marriage, and to boost community awareness about the consequence of early marriage on the future of children, families and Yemeni society.

The head of the National Campaign Against Underage Marriage (Save Warda) presented the objectives of their campaign to combat young marriages in Yemen and awareness campaigns led by youth. She re-emphasized the vital role of civil society organizations in forming strategic partnerships to foster the community awareness about the consequences of early marriage.

The session focused on the health and social consequences of early marriage and to work on enacting and enforcing a constitutional article about establishing a safe age of marriage.