Every year 15 million girls are married as children, denied their rights to health, education and opportunity, and robbed of their childhood.
Every child deserves to enjoy their childhood by playing and studying. When young girls are married off too soon, their entire wellbeing and personal development are in danger. They are often disempowered and will remain dependent on their older husbands. They are neither physically nor emotionally ready to become mothers and wives, and yet they are forced into such a life. This 12-year-old girl was unfortunate to be one of those girls.
A 12-year-old girl was brought to the Xuzhou City Central Hospital, in East China’s Jiangsu Province, together with her 40-year-old ‘husband’ and another woman who claimed to be the girl’s mother-in-law. The girl was 3 months pregnant, and they wanted to get her routine check-up in the said hospital. Doctors were shocked after the man insisted that the young girl was already 20 years old, and she was his wife!
Though the man tried hard to convince the doctors that the girl was already 20 years old, the hospital doctors and staff believe the girl was a lot younger that what they claim her to be.
One of the staff said: “It’s obvious she is just a child, and certainly not anywhere near 20 years old.”
Their suspicion is also said to have angered the husband, who was quoted as saying: “I took her here to be examined – just do your job. Stop asking so many questions.”
Police revealed that the girl didn’t have a Chinese ID, making them believe the girl was probably a foreigner from Southeast Asia, but her exact origins are still unclear. The man was arrested while police investigate on the delicate matter.
Every year 15 million girls are married as children, denied their rights to health, education and opportunity, and robbed of their childhood. If we do nothing, by 2030, an estimated 15.4 million girls a year will marry as children.
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