May 21, 2018

Noura Hussein: the poster child for child marriage and marital rape

located:	Sudan
editor:	Bob Koigi

The world has united in condemnation of a recent decision by a Sudan court to sentence to death by hanging a 19 year old woman who killed her husband after he tried to rape her.

Noura Hussein, who was forcefully married to her cousin when she was 16 years old, fled home in opposition in order to pursue education but was later tricked to remarry the cousin. When she couldn’t agree to the husband consummating the marriage, he hired his cousins to pin her down as he raped her. When he tried to forcefully have sex with her on the second day, she stabbed him to death. As a result, the death penalty ruling that was received with cheers and applause from the man’s family, has illuminated the condition of women's rights in many developing countries, while bringing to the fore the twin problems of marital rape and child marriages.

In Sudan for example, one in three girls are married before they reach 18 years, with girls as young as ten married off by their families. Sudan currently has the most discriminatory laws towards women. Marriage rape and child marriages are not considered crimes and women are frequently frogmarched or whipped for the most outrageous reasons including ‘indecent dressing’ or marrying outside Islam. The country ranks 165 out of 188 countries in the UN Gender Inequality Index that oppresses women’s access to vital services like health, education, employment opportunities and political participation compared to men.

As the international media trains its lenses on the Noura case, and the hashtag #justicefornoura trends, the harsh reality of oppressed women globally continues to sink in. One in every three women worldwide has experienced physical or sexual violence at one time in their lives, with intimate partner violence being the most predominant. Two out of three women have been physically assaulted by their partners.

The international community should now hold countries individually responsible for violating the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, while putting more pressure on nations to institute, strengthen and advocate for policies and environments that guarantee women safety. Because women lives matter.

SUPPORT THE PETITION       #JUSTICE FOR NOURA