Afghan girls are sold by their parents to support the rest of their families

This week several international media have reported how in the midst of the serious crisis in Afghanistan there are families who have sold their minor daughters.

A report from CNN tells the story of Parwana Malik, a girl who said that her father sold her because they did not have enough to eat.

“We have no bread, no rice, no flour … He sold me to an old man,” the little nine-year-old told a journalist from that chain. The man was 55 years old.

The family claims to have made that decision after four years living in a camp for displaced persons in the northwestern province of Badghis, while working for a few dollars in domestic service and receiving humanitarian aid. However, after the Taliban regained power, international aid was cut off and the UN has already said that the country is one step away from experiencing a serious economic and food crisis.

Parwana’s father sold the eldest daughter, 12, first several months earlier.

According to organizations, the case of these sisters is not isolated, since several Afghan families have sold their daughters for marriages; the number grows with increasing economic difficulties in the country and, consequently, hunger. Furthermore, the situation is expected to worsen as winter arrives.

“Lack of food, lack of work, families feel they have to do this,” said Mohammad Naiem Nazem, a human rights activist in Badghis.

Even the parents of the little girls gave an open letter to CNN to show them and tell their case, since they affirm that they cannot change this practice. Parwana’s father, Abdul Malik, said he felt guilt and shame for having to do it, but had not found work, and that he and his wife had no other option to feed the rest of their eight-member family.

The money Malik received will last a few months. The buyer, named Qorban, paid 200,000 Afghanis, about $ 2,200, which is divided into deliveries of sheep, land and cash.

Parwana had said, before her sale, that she hoped she could change her parents’ position on the situation and that she wanted to become a teacher, but her parents did not change their minds.

Delivering Parwana to Qorban, Malik told her, “This is your wife. Please take care of her, now you are responsible for her. Please don’t hit her. “

Qorban stated that in his case he did not want Parwana as a wife, since he already had one, and that he would take care of her as a daughter. “(Parwana) was cheap, and her father was very poor and he needs money,” said Qorban. “She will work at my house. I won’t hit her. I will treat her like a member of the family. I’ll be nice, “he went on to say.

Parwana did not want to leave, but was dragged into the vehicle in which she was loaded.

Another girl who lives a similar story is Magul, 10, in the province of Ghor, who is preparing to be handed over to a 70-year-old man after her parents agreed to sell it, also for around $ 2,200, in exchange for paying off debts with this person, A neighbour.

“I don’t know what to do … Even if I don’t give him my daughters, he will take them away,” said Ibrahim, Magul’s father, who was imprisoned for a time due to his debts with this man.

“I really don’t want it. If they force me to go, I will kill myself, “said little Magul by telling your story.

The marriage of girls under the age of 15 is prohibited in Afghanistan, but it is a practice that is still present in the reality of this chaotic country, mainly in rural areas.

New cases continue to be reported as the food crisis deepens. The UN warned that more than three million children under the age of five will be at risk of acute malnutrition in the coming months. This without counting the situation of those who continue to live in camps for those displaced by the violence of recent years.

The problem is even greater for girls, since with the return of the Taliban to power, girls have not yet been able to return to the classroom and it is not known when it will happen, despite the fact that the government has said that it is working on a plan with that end.

This, according to organizations such as Human Rights Watch, which continue to work in the country, has pushed many families to think about the “marriage market”, since without an education they are more likely to be married for convenience or simply for money to support the rest. of the family.

This in turn creates other problems, since minors are not of an age to consent to marrying or having relationships, and those who become pregnant suffer from health problems, because their bodies are not yet ready to be mothers. The death rate for girls between the ages of 15 and 19 is twice that of those between the ages of 20 and 24, according to the United Nations Population Fund, which adds that 10% of Afghan girls aged 15 and 19 years gives birth every year.

The Taliban authorities have said that they will seek to help the most disadvantaged families with food to avoid these sales of girls, and that if they continue with this practice they will put the parents in jail. (I)