The US on Wednesday called the case of an eight-year-old Saudi girl married to a man 50 years older a “clear and unacceptable violation of human rights,” in a rare criticism of its oil-producing ally.
US State Department spokesman Robert Wood said the US had frequently raised the issue of child marriages with Saudi officials, although he could not say whether this specific case had been raised.
A court in the town of Unaiza in Saudi Arabia upheld for the second time last week the marriage of the Saudi girl to a man who is about 50 years her senior on condition he does not have sex with her until she reaches puberty.
“Child marriage is a clear and unacceptable violation of human rights in our view,” Wood told reporters in Washington. “US officials at all levels frequently raise with the Saudi government our human rights concerns, especially those dealing with ... children and child marriages.”
On Tuesday, the Saudi Justice Minister Mohammed al-Issa was quoted as saying Riyadh would regulate the marriages of young girls after the court refused to nullify the eight-year-old’s marriage.
Saudi Arabia is a patriarchal society that applies an austere form of Sunni Islam that bans unrelated men and women from mixing and gives fathers the right to wed their sons and daughters to whomever they deem fit.
The Justice Ministry aims “to put an end to arbitrariness by parents and guardians in marrying off minor girls,” al-Issa told al-Watan newspaper, partially owned by members of the royal family.
The comments suggested the practice of marrying off young girls would not be abolished.
The regulations would seek to “preserve the rights, fending off blights to end the negative aspects of underage girls’ marriage,” he said.
Many young girls in Arab countries that observe tribal traditions are married to older husbands, but not before puberty. Such marriages are also driven by poverty in countries like Yemen.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
A Croatian town has come up with a novel solution to solve the issue of working parents when there are no public childcare spaces available: pay grandparents to do it. Samobor, near the capital, Zagreb, has become the first in the country to run a “Grandmother-Grandfather Service,” which pays 360 euros (US$400) a month per child. The scheme allows grandparents to top up their pension, but the authorities also hope it will boost family ties and tackle social isolation as the population ages. “The benefits are multiple,” Samobor Mayor Petra Skrobot told reporters. “Pensions are rather low and for parents it is sometimes
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel