Forcded marriage is an abuse against young girls in Somalia-

Background Information:
In Somalia marriage is a cultural and religious institution which the people observe as a sacred entity that should be treated with utmost perfection and care. But there are so many unfavorable cultural practices that do not observe the freedom and the rights of the girl to be married. In some regions of Somalia, particularly the riverine areas of the South, parents make arrangements between themselves and agree to arrange marriage between their children. Child marriage is a common way of life in those areas as a father earmarks his daughter for a prospective groom when she is still a kid. She will be growing up in an environment of abuse whereby she is denied to enjoy her rights as a child. She will be constantly alerted to behave like an adult since a man is waiting for her when she reaches her puppetry age. This kind of forced marriage has even happened in our house when my cousin’s girl child was married off to a 70 year old man who had fallen in love with her when she was three months old. One day the man, a friend of the girl´s father, visited the house and saw this baby lying on a small mat. He immediately asked her father to give her to him when she grows up. Keeping the promise so seriously, the father gave out his daughter to the old man when she reached 13 years of age.

This kind of forced marriage has increased manifold since the outbreak of war in Somalia due to prolonged economic crisis, destitution, lack of law and order etc. A father with many girls has become a rich person among his community as he sells out his daughters to men who can afford to pay a hefty dowry to him. And since the Somalis have fled their country, they have carried this outdated and rather inhumane cultural practice to the Diaspora. It is without doubt that such abuses of forced marriage are afflicted upon the innocent girls in Sweden who are seldom taken back home in the pretext of visiting an ailing family member as happened to Farida, an Afghan-Swedish girl whose father took her to kandahar, Afghanistan and later arranged a marriage for her with an old man. Find Story in the Internet. Therefore it is imperative to hold seminars and workshops for the Somali community to avoid any abuse of forced marriage to happen to Somali-Swedish girls living in Sweden with their parents.

Therefore it is imperative to protect the rights of the girl to ensure that:

the girl´s freedom to choose her marriage partner is respected.

To empower the Somali community with the necessary knowledge on marriage matters

To establish a better understanding between the girl and her parents in terms of marriage.