Child marriage outrage sparks law debate

Outrage has spread in Somalia after an eight-year-old girl, who had been missing for six months, was found living with a man who said he was her husband, reports BBC News. It has emerged the girl's father had consented for her to be married to an adult named Sheikh Mahmoud. Security forces surrounded the man's house last week and forced their way in after he locked himself in a room with the girl. They rescued the girl. The incident has sparked anger on social media and public protests in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu. It has also prompted fresh debates about child protection laws, as currently there is no minimum legal age for marriage. Fadumo Ahmed, chairperson of leading rights group the Somali Women Vision Organisation said: ‘We trust the responsible institutions to take the right and necessary legal action.’ According to the eight-year-old's uncle, she was taken from her home last September by a female relative, who aid she was escorting the child on a trip to see another uncle. But months later, a video surfaced online, showing the girl reciting the Quran. Sheikh Mahmoud initially said he was solely teaching the girl the Quran. But after legal complaints were filed, he changed his statement, saying he had married the girl with her father's consent. Child marriage remains prevalent in Somalia. According to a report published in 2020 by the UN Population Fund and the Somali Government, 35% of women aged between 20 and 24 in the country were married before the age of 18. In 2017, this figure stood at 45%.