Forced and Child Marriages

Forced marriage

A marriage that happens without the agreement of one or either of the people getting married:

A forced marriage is a criminal offence
The victims of forced marriage

Cambridge Dictionary

Child marriage: ‘At 12, I was sold into marriage for $9’ – BBC 100 Women, BBC World Service

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21 dec 2023


Around the world, more than 650 million women alive today were married as children. And each year 12 million girls are married before they reach 18. Although Malawi outlaws marriage for those under 18 years, cultural norms and poverty means the practice persists.

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BBC 100 Women visit the country to meet girls at risk and grassroots organisations working to fix the problem – alongside three of the world’s most high profile humanitarians, Michelle Obama, Amal Clooney and Melinda French Gates.

00:00 Introduction
01:20 The collaboration to end child marriage: Michelle Obama, Amal Clooney and Melinda French Gates
02:27 Michelle Obama: “I see my daughters in those girls”
02:55 A deadly cyclone in Malawi
03:41 Choosing marriage or an education: The story of 15-year-old Esnet
05:13 Michelle Obama: “There’s a belief that women don’t have choice over their own being”
05:42 The causes behind child marriage
07:31 A visit to a programme run by AGE Africa to prevent child marriages
09:35 The story of Tamara, sold into marriage and pregnant at the age of 12
11:50 Amal Clooney: “We formed a network of legal aid clinics”
14:38 Meeting the village headmen: “Some parents insist their child is ready for marriage”
17:45 Radio Mzati: The radio programme trying to reach girls outside of the school network
20:20 Philanthropist Melinda French Gates on child marriage rates
20:40 At a listening club against child marriage
21:58 The first African global summit on child marriage attended by some big global names
24:21 Meeting Tamara’s baby. “I hope I get to go back to school one day”

Written and directed by Yousef Eldin
Reporter: Megha Mohan
Producers: Megha Mohan, Yousef Eldin, Emma Ailes
Executive producers: Valeria Perasso, Amelia Butterly
Executive producer BBC 100 Women: Golnoosh Golshani
Commissioners: Claire Williams, Fiona Crack

1 In Plain Sight: Forced and Child Marriage in America | Kate Ryan Brewer | TEDxOmaha

16 dec. 2019

Time to reframe marriage. From love and happy ever after to legal, forced underage marriages. Filmmaker and writer Kate Ryan Brewer dares us to get uncomfortable as she breaks the happy ever after myth., and face the uncomfortable reality that is hiding in plain sight. The reality of forced legal and child marriages, legal in 48 of the 50 states in the USA. Children forced to marry their rapist and long-time abuser, trapped in violent, abusive relationships that they cannot escape. When you are under 18, you don’t have the legal recourse to divorce and you cannot go to a shelter because you would be counted a runaway and sent back. Kate challenges herself and us to find out what else is hiding in plain sight, across the street, next door…. Born in Seattle and raised in Southeast Asia, Kate is an independent writer and filmmaker. Her first feature film is a documentary about forced and child marriage in the United States called “Knots: A Forced Marriage Story.” and she is directing a short horror film called “The Murder King.” Since graduating from Florida State University film school in 2007, she has lived and worked around the world in Los Angeles, Marrakech, London, Sydney, Washington DC, and Omaha with work ranging from writing comedic pop-culture parodies for Disney to developing communications for The Tahirih Justice Center to raise awareness about gender-based violence
Hyperion published her first YA novel – “I Heart Vampires: Birth” under the pen name Siona McCabre in 2011. 
Accomplishments 
2015 Academy Nicholl Fellowships Screenwriting Competition Quarterfinalist – “Pretty Goes With Everything” by Kate Ryan Brewer and Laughing Fox Thomas This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

2 Forced Marriage Continues in Many Countries

 

29 okt. 2011

Young girls forced into marriage is still a reality in many parts of the world, and it doesn’t just happen in developing nations. Activists, African first ladies and victims gathered at a conference in Los Angeles to talk about the problem and what can be done to change the practice of child brides.

3 Child Marriage in India: Teenage Girls Forced to Marry

3 mrt. 2019

Instead of focusing on their education, teenage girls in Malda, a border town in West Bengal, are focused on the fear of being forced to marry without their consent. VICE India host Makepeace Sitlhou meets schoolgirls, Priyanka, Ismoarah, Moushumi, and Masuda, to understand how they navigate through life in a society where the sole purpose of a girl’s existence seems to be marriage.
 
Note: The name of the principal of Dalla High School is Jaydeb Lahiri.

4 Nigerian child brides: How little girls are sold off into marriage

6 sep. 2019

How young girls in southern Nigeria are viewed as being worth no more than cattle or property. We meet those fighting to stop little girls from being sold off into marriage. Also abortion rights continue to be under siege in America. We talk to Washington-based Politico reporter, Alice Ollstein, about the toll the battle is taking on not just reproductive rights but also those campaigning for them.

5 Child Marriage Around the World: Pakistan — Safia

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29 jul. 2019

 
In a gauzy fantasy, Safia Badal imagined becoming a bride and looking “the prettiest on my wedding day.” But at 13, she was surprised by a proposal and same-day marriage – in an ordinary dress. Had she been a burden on her impoverished, divorced parents? As a 19-year-old homemaker in the capital of Punjab province, Safia remains in a marriage that has brought disappointments – but also two young sons. 
 
Voice of America reporters around the world focused on the worth of a girl to reveal how a young bride is valued by two families: the one she leaves behind and the one she joins. Explore the full project https://projects.voanews.com/child-ma…

6 Child Marriage Around the World: Missouri, USA — Pam Strawbridge

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29 jul. 2019

County recorder Pam Strawbridge signed many marriage licenses in her 40-year career in Pemiscot County Missouri, and hated to sign the ones she said were for “babies.” Strawbridge says her signature is on the union of at least one 13-year-old who came to Missouri to be married.
 
Before they passed a tougher law in 2018 (the minimum age is now 16), Missouri had no conditions on 15-year-olds getting married, and required anyone younger than 14 to get a judge’s permission. Now, if one person is younger than 18 and the other is 21 or older, the state won’t issue the couple a license.
 
Voice of America reporters around the world focused on the worth of a girl to reveal how a young bride is valued by two families: the one she leaves behind and the one she joins. Explore the full project https://projects.voanews.com/child-ma…

7 Forced To Marry (Investigative Documentary) | Real Stories

4 apr. 2019

In this undercover investigation, religious leaders appear willing to agree to perform underage marriages at some mosques across the UK. Around 400 schoolchildren – mainly girls from South Asian communities – are forced into marriage every year in the UK, according to official Government figures. The law in this country is very straight forward, that you can’t marry until you’re 16, also that you can’t engage in sexual activity consensually until you are the age of 16.
 
Want to watch more full-length Documentaries? Click here: http://bit.ly/1GOzpIu
 
Content licensed from Digital Rights Group (DRG). Any queries, please contact us at: owned-enquiries@littledotstudios.com
 
Produced by HARDCASH PRODUCTIONS

8 Forced To Marry At 13: Bangladesh’s Child Brides

26 mrt. 2018

Too Young To Wed: In rural Bangladesh parents often regard their daughters as a financial burden. Marrying off girls as young as 10 has become a cultural norm, despite child marriage being illegal.

“I want to be so many things when I grow up. I want to be a doctor so I can help people”, says Beezly, a 13-year-old schoolgirl. But her parents have other plans for their daughter: they have arranged to wed her to a man twice her age. The illicit ceremony is conducted in a secret location to avoid police attention. Her new husband has no time for her aspirations. “A good wife takes care of me when I come home from my shop. She will make me food and get along with my parents”. Beezly’s story is typical of young girls in Bangladesh, which has the highest child marriage rate in Asia. But not everyone is happy with the status quo. Keshab Roy’s niece poisoned herself when her family tried to force her into marriage. “I keep thinking of her. Why isn’t she here? How many more girls are going to die like this?” he asks. He now tries to convince families not to force young daughters into marriage, and organises cinema screenings to broadcast his message to a wider audience. Yet without a more fundamental challenge to the value placed on girls, it will be an uphill battle to break the cycle.

For more information, visit https://www.journeyman.tv/film/7271

9 How I escaped forced marriage in Egypt | MORAL COURAGE EP. 28

22 sep. 2014

New Yorker Nashwa el-Sayed was abducted to Egypt, raised in an abusive household, and forced into an impending marriage. But she insisted that life had more to offer.
 
From Executive Producer Irshad Manji, Moral Courage TV tells the stories of people who are standing up when others want them to sit down. Whether they are confronting a bully, challenging their culture, or simply seeking truth, the agents of moral courage refuse to fail.

10 Impacts of Underage Marraiges

27 apr. 2010

This documentary is prepared to highlight one of the social evil in our country (Pakistan) that is Underage or forced marriages. This is a small effort towards highlighting the problems of our society. We hope that this documentary could act as a catalyst in bringing change to the mindset related to forced or underage marriages.

11 Right To Choose: Spotting the signs of forced marriage: Azim

13 jul. 2012


Summer holidays are the peak time for young people to be taken overseas and forced into marriage. In some cases they are taken on what they have been told is a holiday to visit family abroad, but in fact a marriage has been planned. Once abroad, victims are often even more isolated than they might have been in the UK and getting help is more difficult.

Remind young people to speak up if they think they or someone they are close to are in danger.

12 FULL STORY: To Honour and Obey

19 apr. 2015

Crime Beat TV
Crime Beat TV
 
Women and girls forced to marry in Canada. Will new legislation stamp out the practice – or drive it further underground? For more info, please go to www.global16x9.com.

13 Forced Marriage – The Feed

1 aug. 2017

Weddings are usually a cause for celebration, but there is a darker side to some bridal parties.
 
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14 When American girls are forced into marriage abroad, the U.S. can do little to rescue them

16 sep. 2016

Jada was 12 years old and living in New Jersey when her father sent her to Saudi Arabia to be married. With the U.S. government unable to intervene, her astonished family at home took up the challenge of bringing her back. Jada is not alone in her experience, and not everyone has the same happy outcome. Special correspondent Gayle Tzemach Lemmon reports.

15 Too Young to Wed | Nat Geo Live

31 okt. 2011

Photographer Stephanie Sinclair and writer Cynthia Gorney investigate the world of prearranged child marriage, where girls as young as five are forced to wed.

16 Hidden crime affecting hundreds of women | 60 Minutes Australia

15 mei 2018

As a teenager, Rania Farrah was taken captive and held against her will by her father’s family in Syria. A prisoner in the secretive and sinister world of young women who face the prospect of forced marriage. But refusing to be defeated, she secretly plotted and pulled off a daring escape back to Australia on the day she turned 18. On 60 Minutes, Rania very bravely speaks to Liz Hayes in the hope of lifting the veil on a hidden crime that affects hundreds of Australian women.
 
For forty years, 60 Minutes have been telling Australians the world’s greatest stories. Tales that changed history, our nation and our lives. Reporters Liz Hayes, Allison Langdon, Tara Brown, Charles Wooley, Liam Bartlett and Tom Steinfort look past the headlines because there is always a bigger picture. Sundays are for 60 Minutes.

17 Uncovering the problem of forced marriage in the U.S.

15 sep. 2016

She was never verbally or physically threatened or restrained. But at age 19, Nina Van Harn felt like she couldn’t say no when she was expected to marry a man chosen by her family. And she is not alone in her experience. In a two-year period, it’s estimated that there were 3,000 such forced marriage cases in the United States. Special correspondent Gayle Tzemach Lemmon reports.

18 Why does the US have so many child brides? – BBC News

24 okt. 2017

Angel was 13 when her mother forced her to marry and start a family. “I felt like a slave,” she says of her childhood.

While countries like Zimbabwe, Malawi and El Salvador have recently banned child marriage, it remains legal in the US – and half of states have no set minimum age below which you cannot get married.

For the BBC’s America First? series the BBC’s Aleem Maqbool is exploring health and social issues where the US, the richest country in the world, does not perform well in international rankings.
Video by Franz Strasser; produced by Ashley Semler

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19 Forced Marriage Cops (Crime Documentary) | Real Stories

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30 sep. 2016

A powerful film showing the true plight of victims forced into marriage. With unprecedented access to the Manchester Police Force, this documentary investigates the biggest cases of forced marriage in the UK. In June 2014 it became illegal for someone to force a person to get married, the problem is how difficult this is to police to track and investigate these cases.

20 The grey area between arranged and forced marriages.

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21 mei 2013

It may not be widely known, but Arranged and forced marriages are part of life in Australia.

21 Human Trafficking Survivor Breaks Her Silence

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7 jul. 2020


Content notice: Human trafficking, rape, abuse
For an audio described version, click: https://youtu.be/WdoVJ9VOyyA

“I was bought like an animal.”

Alima Bonsa bravely shared her story on June 18, 2020, alleging that she was trafficked from Burkina Faso and taken to the US. Once there, she says she was forced to work backbreaking work on a farm after her trafficker brought the rest of her family. Share her story and take action today.

22 Mejores Bromas – Niños Grafiteros

28 apr. 2013

Los conductores hacen una parada en una tienda para comprar algunos artículos, pero cuando están en la caja, se dan cuenta de dos niños con pintura de aerosol pintan el capó de sus coches en el estacionamiento. Las víctimas corren para detenerlos, pero se dan cuenta que los niños en realidad sólo miran un mapa. Confundidos, las víctimas se sienten mal por haber juzgado a estos chicos tan rápido!
 
Una presentación de JustForLaughsTV. Bromas oficiales del canal YouTube Just For Laughs Gags. El origen de las bromas de cámara oculta más divertidas, más increíbles, más risibles llenas de comedia y carcajadas. Las mejores bromas del mundo!