NADA AL-AHDALHuman rights activist London – UKfrom Yemen, living in the UK Donate to Youth Foundation (opens in a new tab) Nada FoundationOfficial website - Nada Foundation, Yemen (opens in a new tab)
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Activist Fraidy Reiss On Ending Forced Marriage In America | Op-Ed | NowThis

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Child marriage is still legal in America — but this activist doesn’t want any girl to go through what she experienced.
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NOTE: Since this video was produced, Delaware has banned child marriage. Read more here: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/17/us/child-marriage-minimum-age-minors.html

Fraidy Reiss founded Unchained At Last to put an end to forced marriage.

“Child marriage right now is legal in all 50 states. The marriage age laws in half of the United States are in line with laws in Iran, Saudi Arabia and Yemen.” Reiss explained. “I was raised in an insular, religious community in Brooklyn, where arranged marriage or so-called arranged marriage is the norm, and child marriage is the norm. My family arranged my marriage when I was 19 to a stranger who turned out to be violent. People think, well forced marriage, child marriage, this doesn’t happen in Brooklyn. This doesn’t happen in America. It does. I happened to me, and it is a widespread problem in the United States.”

She went on to say, “I’ve seen legislators and advocates, even people who call themselves feminists, get up and oppose legislation to end child marriage by insisting that girls, particularly pregnant teenage girls, somehow benefits from marriage. That’s outrageous. There’s a reason that the U.S. State Department considers all marriage before 18 a human rights abuse. You need to contact your state legislators. You need to contact your governor, and you need to say, ‘Really? In year 2018, we still have child marriage in our state?’”

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  • Translated from Arabic

    Just a reminder | Stories of girls' pain.. child marriage allowed in 48 US states and banned in only one

    Although the world recognises the danger of marrying girls under 18, it is strangely still permitted in the United States. The Massachusetts Senate unanimously passed a bill banning child marriage, which had previously been allowed.

  • Translated from Arabic

    Just a reminder | US law allows the marriage of minors

    Local law in most US states allows the marriage of children under 18 with parental consent and judicial approval. The Massachusetts Senate unanimously passed a bill banning child marriage in the state.

  • Translated from Arabic

    Just a reminder | Did you know that 48 US states allow child marriage?

    The Senate of the US state of Massachusetts voted unanimously in favour of a bill banning child marriage, which had previously been allowed. Rights advocates, UNICEF volunteers and supporters of a children's rights association attended the vote.