Young Women Still Face Forced Marriages in Afghani
Despite some advances in rights for women and girls in Afghanistan, young Afghani women can be married to another family to settle debts. According to some tribal law, after a man murders, he must give a woman in his family for marriage to the victim’s family, a practice which settles the blood feud in order to avoid retaliation from the victim’s family. Recently, the Shinwari tribe outlawed this practice and others which it deemed detrimental to women. The Women and Children Legal Research Foundation reports that about 500 marriages in
Compiled from: “Afghan Girls Traded for Debts, Blood Feuds,” Alisa Tang, Associated Press (reprinted in USA TODAY,) 9 July 2007.
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