[size=14pt]Yerima’s marriage is ‘a child sale’ says UN [/size]
May 27, 2010 12:11AM

Two top United Nations officials on Wednesday condemned Sani Ahmed Yerima’s marriage to a 13-year old Egyptian girl, calling it a sale of a child and against acceptable international practices and relevant conventions of the UN, Empowered Newswire reports.

Speaking on the matter at the UN on Tuesday afternoon were Hilde Johnson, Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and Marta Santos Pais, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children.

According to the UNICEF Deputy Executive Director based on the age of the girl and the involvement of a dowry paid by the Nigerian senator, the marriage of the 13 year old girl is known under UN and international conventions as a “child marriage,” contravening the UN Convention on the Rights of a Child.

Nigeria is a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of a Child and the convention became the Child Rights Act in Nigeria in 2003. A recent effort in February this year to repeal the Act at the House of Representative failed.

Joined by the UN’s Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Radhika Coomaraswamy, the top UN officials were launching a renewed media campaign on the Convention on the Rights of the Child which was adopted 20 years ago and also advocating for the universal adherence to the convention’s two Optional Protocols.

Ms Johnson’s colleague, Santos Pais added that Mr Yerima’s wedding will in fact qualify as “a child sale” based on the appropriate international and UN protocols on Children conventions.

Empowered Newswire raised the question on Mr Yerima twice at the UN headquarters, once at the regular press briefing addressed by the Spokesperson of the UN Secretary General Martin Nesirky and later at the press briefing panel addressed by Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy,

Ms Johnson, who first expressed dissatisfaction with the child marriage, said Mr Yerima’s action “is in contradiction to the Convention of the Rights of the Child.” “This is not in accordance with the international convention and hence on several occasions from the UNICEF’s side we have expressed our grief concern with child marriage and with practices of marrying children away in this way, which is very often forced,” she said.

Marriage against international law

The UNICEF official said child marriages are not permitted under the international convention “because they- the children so married- are not in the position as a grown up and adults to take a position on this important issue.” Affirming the UN’s condemnation Johnson restated that “this is against the convention of the rights child,” and warned that “we will be very clear that this kind of practices will need to stop.” Ms Pais added that the Senator’s marriage to an under-age “will also fall under the protocol we are talking about, because it will be a case of sale of a child, given the receiving of compensation a particular amount of money.”

Some 132 countries had ratified the Optional Protocol of the UN Convention on the Rights of a Child, especially on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, and of those that had not done so, many were island States with small armies, according to the UN officials.

Nigeria is also believed to have signed the protocol. But the UN is seeking an outright universal adoption, according to Ms. Coomaraswamy because “Universality implies a moral consensus, and a moral consensus is then the basis of customary law and standards.

All we need do now, is hang that disgrace of a man by his dangly bits. Nothing wrong with applying "sharia" law to that animal.
The whole World must now think all Nigerians are paedophiles that "marry" kids.

Yerima's case is just popular because of his status, do you know how many of these types of marriages go on everyday in Nigeria, particularly in Sharia states.

There is very little that NGOs can do when they operate in such regions and the more-aware, better educated and reasonably well-positioned citizens (especially women) in such regions are not as vocal I guess there is so much progress you can bring about when your religion places an embargo on your ability to reason objectively in a humane way.

When i have discussions with some of my Muslim friends and try to broach the topic, they either say, that this phenomenon has a purpose.
1: Stop the girls from going into prostitution
2: Give them a better life and education they would not have had an opportunity to get if they were not married off early.
3: It is supported by the Quran

On the surface it seems like a valid argument but when you take a few steps forward, yo realize that it is just a face-saving statement.

lagerwhenindoubt:

Yerima's case is just popular because of his status, do you know how many of these types of marriages go on everyday in Nigeria, particularly in Sharia states.
There is very little that NGOs can do when they operate in such regions and the more-aware, better educated and reasonably well-positioned citizens (especially women) in such regions are not as vocal I guess there is so much progress you can bring about when your religion places an embargo on your ability to reason objectively in a humane way.

When i have discussions with some of my Muslim friends and try to broach the topic, they either say, that this phenomenon has a purpose.
1: Stop the girls from going into prostitution
2: Give them a better life and education they would not have had an opportunity to get if they were not married off early.
3: It is supported by the Quran

On the surface it seems like a valid argument but when you take a few steps forward, yo realize that it is just a face-saving statement.

I am sorry but there is nothing valid about that argument. Why should anyone think a 12 year old girl is going into prostitution? Besides, how does an old fool putting is thing in a 12 yr old going to stop her going into prostitution? Which young girls have a better life after marrying at 12? What they get is VVF, early death, and a wretched life. Anyone who hides behind religion or excuses this abominable because they are defending their religion is b.a.s.t.a.r.d and will surely burn in hell. A 12 year old girl is just a child.

lagerwhenindoubt:

Yerima's case is just popular because of his status, do you know how many of these types of marriages go on everyday in Nigeria, particularly in Sharia states.

There is very little that NGOs can do when they operate in such regions and the more-aware, better educated and reasonably well-positioned citizens (especially women) in such regions are not as vocal I guess there is so much progress you can bring about when your religion places an embargo on your ability to reason objectively in a humane way.

When i have discussions with some of my Muslim friends and try to broach the topic, they either say, that this phenomenon has a purpose.
1: Stop the girls from going into prostitution
2: Give them a better life and education they would not have had an opportunity to get if they were not married off early.
3: It is supported by the Quran

On the surface it seems like a valid argument but when you take a few steps forward, yo realize that it is just a face-saving statement.

Your excuse for supporting child marriage abuse is at best religious solidarity and at worse irrational. As pointed out above, how do you connect marrying a girl at 13 with pros-titution? are you saying that all unmarried girls from 9 - 18 are pro-stitutes? So marrying a girl at 13 and divorcing them at 19 would discourage prost-titution.

How will marrying a girl at thirteen or even 9 give her a better life and education? How will she get an education when she becomes a intimacy gadget and start having babies?. How will she have a better life when she is imposed with a responsibility of raising a child when she herself is a child.

I don't know if islam supports having sex with 9 yrs olds, but if it does, then it is wrong and should be changed. It goes against all natural, moral, and even medical laws.

Come to think of it this man still remain a senator after all this accusation against him.
Shameless fools called politicians, I thought the senate said a committee has been set to investigate the matter. What are their reports? In a real human world the idiot should have resigned while the investigation goes on. i jst wish he is castrated for life.

wirinet:

Your excuse for supporting child marriage abuse is at best religious solidarity and at worse irrational. As pointed out above, how do you connect marrying a girl at 13 with pros-titution? are you saying that all unmarried girls from 9 - 18 are pro-stitutes? So marrying a girl at 13 and divorcing them at 19 would discourage prost-titution.

How will marrying a girl at thirteen or even 9 give her a better life and education? How will she get an education when she becomes a intimacy gadget and start having babies?. How will she have a better life when she is imposed with a responsibility of raising a child when she herself is a child.

I don't know if islam supports having intimacy with 9 yrs olds, but if it does, then it is wrong and should be changed. It goes against all natural, moral, and even medical laws.

My Sarcasm sometimes gets the best of me and confuses other readers. Please read my post thoroughly. I am not making any excuse neither have i formed any sort of solidarity with the idea of child marriage. infact if you go through it (I suspect you did not) with a clear mind. you will see that I have stated that whenever I start discussion issues like Child Marriages with Muslim friends, those are the points they use to support Child Marriages. They use those excuses as a foundation for their argument, some claim their religion supports it and they are offering a better life for the children
So we don't get off on the wrong foot

^
It is a disgrace that any of your friends can defend Yerima. Tell them off in in clear-cut, unmistakable terms!! There is no religion that advertises se'x with 13 year olds, anything to the contrary is a smokescreen for the ignorant by their puppet masters.

What they are doing is defending paedophilia and using their backward minds and primeval "logic" as justification. Would those same people defend the backward culture that leads to the ra'ping of little babies (yes, babies!) and goats in South Africa; all because there is a tradition that says, se'x with a virgin or an animal will cure AIDS? I guess not.