{"id":114453,"date":"2011-07-19T12:24:59","date_gmt":"2011-07-19T07:24:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.epress.am\/?p=114453"},"modified":"2011-07-19T12:24:59","modified_gmt":"2011-07-19T07:24:59","slug":"curbing-child-marriage-in-azerbaijan-iwpr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/2011\/07\/19\/curbing-child-marriage-in-azerbaijan-iwpr.html","title":{"rendered":"Curbing Child Marriage in Azerbaijan: IWPR"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two years after Azerbaijan\u2019s parliament promised tougher laws to prevent underage marriage, it took a police raid to stop a man in his thirties marrying a 13-year-old, the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) reports<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

The officers swooped on a beauty salon in the city of Ganja where the marriage was due to take place last month.<\/p>\n

The 13-year-old child bride said she was aware that women cannot legally marry until they are 17, but believed the man, 20 years her senior, was an unmissable catch.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy fiance is a serious guy. They say he\u2019s a businessman,\u201d she said. \u201cMy mother saw photographs of his house \u2013 it\u2019s large and beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n

The girl would have liked to carry on going to school, and go on to music college, but thought marriage sounded like a good idea from the way her mother described it.<\/p>\n

She blames \u201cjealous\u201d relatives for tipping off the police.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy fiance\u2019s parents initially wanted to marry him to my cousin. But at the viewing, he took a liking to me and proposed,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Ilgar Balakishiyev, deputy police chief in Ganja, suspects the marriage amounted to a financial transaction.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe suspect that\u2019s the case here. They wanted to arrange the marriage quickly, within the space of a week and with very few people present,\u201d he said. \u201cThe fact that prior to the wedding, the girl underwent a medical examination and got a certificate confirming she was a virgin also supports our suspicions. From many years of experience, I can say these examinations are done so as to sell the girl off at a higher price.\u201d<\/p>\n

The girl\u2019s mother denied any mercenary plans.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a mother and I love my daughter. How could I sell her?\u201d she asked. \u201cIt was just that a good fianc\u00e9 appeared, and I wanted my daughter to be happy. I\u2019ve got health problems so I wanted to build a good life for my daughter as soon as possible\u2026. I myself married when I was 13.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2009, when Hadi Rajabli, a member of the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan party and chair of the parliamentary committee for social policy, was pushing for changes to the law, she said, \u201cIf a mother is a child herself, then she cannot raise her children as she should.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two years ago, IWPR reported on a similar story, where a 15-year-old was preparing to marry a man seven years her senior, and such cases seem to be becoming more and more common.<\/p>\n

So why, IWPR asked Rajabli, has nothing been done since the bill was first floated?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been passing many other laws over this period,\u201d she replied. \u201cWe haven\u2019t been just sitting doing nothing. If the proposed amendments are on the agenda, that means they\u2019re going to be looked at and probably passed, perhaps even at the beginning of parliament\u2019s autumn session.\u201d<\/p>\n

The opposition is scathing about parliament\u2019s failure to act on the issue. Panah Huseynov, who represented the Musavat party in parliament until he lost his seat in the November 2010 election, was scathing about the suggestion that legislators were too busy with other things.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a parliament like this where everyone dances to the same tune and there\u2019s no opposition presence or dissident members, it isn\u2019t surprising that such an important proposed amendment doesn\u2019t get enacted for this long,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Women\u2019s rights activists in Azerbaijan say the need for stronger legislation is urgent as girls are increasingly being married off below the minimum age. At the moment, that is 18 for men and 17 for women, or a year earlier for either, in exceptional circumstances.<\/p>\n

When a minor enters into an illegal marriage, only the Muslim wedding rite is performed. Without a marriage certificate from the state, wives \u2013 especially but not only minors \u2013 miss out on the protections afforded by a legal marriage.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the couple fall out and separate, the woman has no rights to property or financial redress,\u201d Namiq Guliyev, a lawyer with the Free Legal Assistance Help, said. \u201cOnly if they have children can the woman demand alimony, and then only if the father formally acknowledges paternity.\u201d (For more on this issue, see Plight of Single Mothers in Azerbaijan<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Maleyka Alizade, head of the Regional Women\u2019s Centre, said parents often justified marrying off daughters in their early teens by arguing it would improve their economic position.<\/p>\n

\u201cYet they must know that at 13 or 14, girls are not physically or psychologically ready for marriage so they\u2019re going to face numerous serious problems,\u201d Alizade said. \u201cHow can a 13-year-old girl bring up a child? She\u2019s a child herself. A child will be just a doll to her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alizade said surveys showed that underage marriages were more likely to end in separations than others.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn most cases where such marriages break up, young women have no property rights or and no possibility of earning money, and fall prey to human trafficking,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Alizade said she was now looking forward to the long-awaited legislation come into force.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re very much hoping that the changes to the law will be passed at parliament\u2019s autumn session, and that the minimum marriage age will be raised to 18 for both sexes,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Better laws can only be the start, though, Alizade argues.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn order to put a final stop to this problem, the police must be tougher on illegal early marriages, schools must pay more attention to it, and parents must become more responsible about their daughters\u2019 futures,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Photo: Gulnur Ragifgizi for IWPR<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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