the fate of young girls sold and finally saved by an association

Posted

FRANCE 2

Article written by

D. Olliéric, E. Delevoye, M. Behboudi, H. Horoks – France 2

France Televisions

A few weeks ago, a report from France 2 revealed how in Afghanistan children were sometimes sold, in order to compensate for debts. What happened to some of these children?

Amina, 10, is saved. She had been sold for $2,500 by her family to a man 15 years her senior. The forced marriage will not take place, the family is taken away by an association far from the misery camp where they lived. For Amina, it’s a leap into the unknown. Three months ago, she was living in the middle of the mountains in a remote province where women and children were trying to survive. The only wealth there was the little girls, and many were for sale.

Today, the family has been rehoused by the association To Young to Wed (“too young to marry”), which has had the marriage annulled. “It happened under the supervision of the imams of their neighborhood. To cancel the marriage, we had to promise to help the father find a job”, explains Aziz Tawakoli, program director of the association in Badghis (Afghanistan). Another four-year-old child has found her home thanks to the association. She had been sold to a couple who could not procreate. In the poorer regions of the country, selling young girls is a custom. Since the Taliban came to power, the practice has reportedly increased threefold.


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