Essay: Some refugee girls are forced into early marriage for safety – here’s why
UK academic AISHA HUTCHINSON looks at the reasons why the incidence of child marriage increase in communities impacted by conflicts or disasters…
Essay: Slavery’s historical link to marriage is still at play in some African societies
BENEDETTA ROSSI, professor of history at UCL, looks at the incidence of ‘slave marriages’ past – and present…
Contemporary slavery extensive around globe – UN investigator
United NationsAP A UN investigator says contemporary forms of slavery are widely practiced around the world, including forced labour for China’s Uyghur minority, bonded labour for the lowest caste Dalits in South Asia, and domestic servitude in Gulf countries, Brazil and Colombia. Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur Tomoya Obokata adds that traditional enslavement, especially of […]
Australian religious leaders can play key role in addressing forced marriage, says Anti-Slavery Australia head
Geelong, Australia Religious leaders can play an important role in addressing the issue of forced marriage in Australia, according to Professor Jennifer Burn, director of Anti-Slavery Australia. “Religious leaders have actually got a key role here…” Burn told Sight. “They are respected in their communities and are often turned for advice and assistance and they do have […]
Essay: ‘Bride kidnapping’ haunts rural Kyrgyzstan, causing young women to flee their homeland
In an article first published on The Conversation, US-based researchers ERIN HOFMANN and GUANGQING CHI look at the problem of ‘bride kidnapping’ and its links with migration in Kyrgyzstan…
Pakistan’s kidnappings: Each year 1,000 girls forcibly converted to Islam
KATHY GANNON, of The Associated Press reports on the plight of those girls in Pakistan who are subjected to forced marriage and religious conversion…
UN warns child labour, trafficking on the rise in troubled Mali
Dakar, SenegalThomson Reuters Foundation More children have been trafficked, forced to work in gold mines and to fight as soldiers in Mali this year as conflict worsened and COVID-19 shut schools, the United Nations said on Tuesday. With security in Mali deteriorating, a network of humanitarian agencies led by the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, documented […]
Indian state outlaws religious conversion by marriage
New Delhi, IndiaAP India’s ruling Hindu nationalist party has approved legislation in the country’s most populous state that lays out a prison term of up to 10 years for anyone found guilty of using marriage to force someone to change religion. The decree for the state of Uttar Pradesh was passed Tuesday and follows a […]
Pakistan court orders arrests over Christian teen’s forced marriage
Karachi, PakistanThomson Reuters Foundation A Pakistani court ordered several arrests on Monday in the case of a Christian teenager who was allegedly forced to convert to Islam and marry a 44-year-old Muslim man, an incident that sparked street protests by church groups and rights activists. The high court in Sindh province – where the legal […]
Pakistani police rescue Christian teen forced to convert, marry
Karachi, Pakistan Thomson Reuters Foundation Pakistani police have rescued a missing Christian teenager who was allegedly forced to convert to Islam and marry a 44-year-old Muslim man, her family said on Tuesday after the case sparked street protests and outrage on social media. A court in the city of Karachi ordered police to free the […]