A 17-year-old child bride self-immolated and passed away in Sistan and Baluchestan, southeast Iran.
On Wednesday, the teenager who was a victim of domestic violence set himself on fire in the city of Bampur.
The campaign of Baluch activists identified the 17-year-old as “F- Marandgani” and wrote: “This Baluch girl has set herself on fire due to violence and lack of support from her family.”
The child’s husband is said to have beaten and tortured her mentally and physically.
The physical and psychological damage caused by child marriage inflicts irreparable damage on the lives of these children including pregnancy under the age of 18, maternal mortality, depression, suicide attempts, divorce, school dropouts, and the persistence of a cycle of cultural and economic poverty.
Self-immolation and suicide of the victims of early marriages make headlines in Iran from time to time.
On January 20, a 16-year-old girl, who was also a victim of early marriage, set herself on fire. The teenager was from Delgan city in Sistan and Baluchestan province and his family had forced her to marry a 40-year-old man.
Child marriage or marriage without the free and full consent of both spouses is a human rights violation and an evident example of violence against women which is not in line with several international agreements including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and the Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage, and Registration of Marriage.
Still, child marriage is encouraged under the rule of the mullahs in Iran.
Ensieh KhazAli the Women and Family Affairs director advocates for early marriage for girls. In a June 2017 interview, she said that she had married at 16, and her children did so, too. (Persian Independent – September 1, 2021)
Elsewhere, she said: “All four of my children are married, and in our own way, I tried to get my children married soon. Their dowries were 14 coins, each.” (The state-run namayande.com – June 7, 2017)
The latest headlines on child marriages in Iran referred to the painful phenomenon of young child marriage.
The Department of Registry of Sistan and Baluchestan Province announced it had registered 18 marriages of young girls between 5 and 9 years old since March 2021. (The state-run ROKNA news agency – January 4, 2022)
The Department of Registry of Sistan and Baluchestan Province, southeastern Iran, has also registered 2,405 marriages of girls between 10 and 14 years old during the same period.
Between one and three girls, under 15 years old, get married every day in Ahvaz, the capital of the oil-rich Khuzestan Province in southwestern Iran.
The head of the Women’s Committee in the Governorate of Ahvaz explains that the underlying cause for these early marriages is widespread unemployment caused by water shortages, poverty, and inflation.
Pooneh Pilram says, “When families cannot provide for their children, they first get rid of their daughter.” (The state-run Fararu website – January 2, 2022)
