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http://gandhara.rferl.org/content/afghanistan-baad-marriages-rural-girls/27157104.html
Afghanistan – Rural Girls Continue to Fall Victim to “Baad” Forced Marriages to Settle Feuds
Afghan
Wedding Scene, undated
28-07-2015
- The ancient practice of BAAD, the forced marriage of a girl to an antagonized
family to settle a feud, is still prevalent in rural Afghanistan.
When a villager kills a member of a rival
clan in a fight, the elders of the community forms a jirga, or council, to
mediate the conflict and prevent further bloodshed. The jirga typically chooses
a young woman from the perpetrator's family and orders her to marry a man from
the victim's clan. In theory, the resulting bond between the two families is
meant to stop further turmoil. But in practice, it is the young woman who pays
a heavy price.
Bloody skirmishes remain alarmingly common
in rural Afghan communities, where issues like the sharing of irrigation water
-- a scarce resource -- cause conflicts among poor subsistence farmers. A
verbal spat escalates into a fistfight, and soon enough the farmers are
bludgeoning each other with shovels, with fatal consequences. The male members
of both farmers' families are then dragged into the fight. By the time the
elders and the village council step in, the warring parties have already
caused irreparable damage.
To placate the victim family's thirst for
revenge, the village elders usually resort to baad. But the presiding mullah
and village chief have little regard for the bride's fate: Their objective is
simply to prevent further bloodshed. The bride is often in her early teens or
even younger, wedded to a 50- or 60-year-old man from the victim's family. The
community forgoes typical wedding ceremonies in baad marriages. The bride is
quietly escorted to her new home, where she is often abused by her
vengeance-seeking in-laws.
Earlier this year, the nongovernmental
organization Civil and Liberal Initiative for Peace (CLIP) sought to map the
practice of baad and its social impact in Afghanistan. Focusing on nine
districts in Kabul, Parwan, and Panjshir provinces, the survey showed a
significant decline in baad cases.
"The Baad tradition is still practiced
in some of the areas where literacy rates are low," said CLIP member
Khadija Amiri. She attributed the decrease of baad practice to improved
education and literacy programs and an increase in public awareness.
Amiri confirmed that the victims of baad
are mostly under-aged girls who are sacrificed to settle an inter-family
dispute. Girls who run away from home with a boy or are accused of having
premarital sex are also targeted, according to CLIP's findings.
Khatira Asadi, another CLIP member,
highlighted a baad case in which the murderer's family married their
daughter to a man who already has a wife and children, works abroad, and
was not even present at the wedding.
"He is in Iran, but the girl has to
serve the family of her new husband like a servant," Asadi said.
Human rights activists say religious
leaders can play a vital role in rooting out the practice, since it is they who
handle baad cases outside of the official justice system. Asadi said her
organization has launched a campaign to educate and create awareness in rural
villages about this issue.
"We tell them that based on the religious teachings and the laws of Afghanistan, they are free not to practice this tradition," she added.