Afghan parents sell 9-year-old daughter to 55-year-old fiance

A 9-year-old girl has been sold to a 55-year-old man after she decided there was “no other way” to get food for the family. Relatives live in a refugee camp in Afghanistan’s Batkis province. The Taliban have suffered from a lack of humanitarian aid since coming to power in August.

Parwana Malik is another Afghan “baby bride”. She sees her “future husband” as an “old man” with white eyebrows and a beard, and she worries that he will physically assault her to work from his home, Extensive CNN International spoke with the child on October 22nd.

Parwana’s family has been living in a settlement in Batkis for four years, receiving food from humanitarian organizations, and surviving unemployment earning a few dollars a day. Since August 15th, The Taliban have made it difficult to maintain international teams in a country facing a severe economic crisis.

The girl’s older sister had already been sold a few weeks ago to eight other family members who were 12 years old to collect items. Father Abdul Malik said he could not sleep and was “distorted” by shame, guilt and concern for his daughters.

He told CNN that he had exhausted his options before selling the girls, moving to other Afghan cities in search of work, borrowing “large sums” from relatives, and asking his wife, a teenage mother, for help. Food for other members of the camp. But in the end, the alternatives are gone.

“There are eight of us, and I have to sell them to keep the others alive,” Abdul argued with CNN.

Despite the sacrifice, the money earned by selling Parvana will only be in favor of her relatives for a few months. The girl says she tried to change her parents’ minds but was unsuccessful.

On October 24, the “buyer”, identified only by the name Korban, arrived at Malik’s home with a payment for the baby: 200,000 Afghans, about R $ 12,000, sheep, land and cash.

The man denied that he already had a wife and that the woman would treat her like their daughter and that the woman would be his future wife. “(Parwana) is cheap. Her father is very poor and needs money. She will work in my house and I will not harm her. I will treat her as a part of my family and I will love her,” the buyer told the broadcaster. .

But despite the claim, when the woman was handed over to the man, the baby’s father said: “This is your fianc மனைவிe. Take care of her – now you are responsible for her, please don’t hit her,” the foreign media reported.

Qurban welcomed Abdullah and took Parwana by the hand. The girl, who dreamed of becoming a teacher, tried to put her feet on the ground, but was dragged to a car waiting in front of the family home.

In theory, marriage to children under the age of 15 is illegal in Afghanistan, but these types of unions are common, especially in more rural areas of the country. In 2018, a study conducted by UNICEF indicates that child marriages will take place Provided a 10% drop in 5 years, The organization that praised some government action, has now been sacked.