A reformed child marriage advocate, a father who admittedly chose to wed his daughters at the young age of 12-years old to pay off his creditors has joined Human Rights Watch in a new awareness campaign against child marriages.
The Yemeni father who identified himself as Nadim told HRW in an interview aimed to explained the roots and causes of child marriages in Yemen that poverty and economic hardship had pushed him to act the way he did, something he said too deeply regret.
"I'd advise any father, mother or brother not to rush to marry their girls like I did because that is ignorant," he told HRW.
Through the new campaign, HRW wants to move the focus away from religion and put child marriages under a social lense, a trend born out of poverty, a stigma, rather than a voluntary choice.
Revealing how he forced both his daughters to marry men whom she had not chose and did not want to marry, he recalled, "I forced her (Laila) and she cried, even at the wedding party. I warned her 'If you don't get married I will kill you.' I really threatened her. I married both my daughters off to pay back my debts."
A controversial issue, child marriage in Yemen has in recent months drew much attention as several claims of alleged deaths and parental abuse have been reported by the media, most often than not the products of hoaxes and false allegations.
Speaking on the matter Belkis Wille was quoted by HRW as saying, "Child marriage is very common in Yemen and over 50 per cent of girls are married before the age of 18. In rural areas one even sees girls getting married at age eight."
She added, "Given the poverty, families view their daughters as an economic asset, marrying the daughters off brings in a form of dowry from the groom's family."