Forced marriages, a scourge that still affects 650 million women worldwide, amidst physical and psychological violence

ROME – The story of Dianah Kamande. Dianah is a young woman from Kenya who fell victim to a forced marriage. She reported her story during a workshop organized by the United Nations precisely to raise awareness of the subject and its consequences. Dianah said that one night her husband entered the house angry, with the intention of killing her and her two children. She managed to protect the children and save themselves. When help arrived, her husband killed himself with a stab in the stomach. Today Dianah survives with twenty-one cuts on her head. From a victim of forced marriage, she overnight became a young single mother with two dependent children.

The data of Exodus Road. According toExodus Road, a non-governmental organization that works to collect data on all forms of modern slavery, in 2022 still 650 million women around the world are forced to marry and experience physical and psychological violence. Broadening our gaze towards all forms of modern slavery, the updates proposed by Exodus they tell of a world in which 43 percent of new slaves are forced into forced labor; 13 percent of victims of human trafficking are exploited in the sex trade; 44 percent of women experience forced marriages.

UN initiatives. The United Nations recently organized a workshop in Geneva on the consequences of forced marriages, which was attended by experts, survivors and activists. “End of the practice of forced marriages requires multi-context engagement and collaboration at the community, national, regional and global levels, in both peace and conflict situations, because only together can we make a difference,” said Hannah Wu, chief of the section for women’s human rights and gender equality of the United Nations.

Kamande’s reaction. After going through such a traumatic experience as bondage in marriage, Dianah Kamande founded the organization “Come Together Widows & Orphans Organization (CTWOO)”, precisely to help the survivors of the forced marriage to overcome the effects of the physical and psychological violence suffered. Kamande in New York also runs the Global Fund for Widows, a program that supports women who have suffered not only marriage but also genital mutilation. The program has currently taken care of 63 women, all very young, who have already experienced abuse.

The story of Caroline Ndiangui. Caroline Ndiangui participated, like Kamande, in the United Nations workshop. She too survived an experience of forced marriage and today her main activity is to go around the villages of the country and illustrate to women what a forced marriage is and what consequences it leaves in the lives of those who experience it. Explain to girls why they shouldn’t get married when they are too young. Tell them why they shouldn’t give up the possibility of studying to become wives, usually of much older men, and then mothers, generally at the behest of their family of origin.

The causes of forced marriages. Caroline Ndiangui has no doubts: poverty and pressure from parents and religion are among the main causes that push girls to get married early and without wanting to. Ndiangui founded the organization “Teen Mother’s Arise” and works mainly with teenage girls who have suffered unwanted pregnancies. Today she is reaping the first fruits of her work, seeing young women who have acquired a role in society that is not just that of mother and wife. Caroline got married at sixteen, her husband was physically and verbally abusive. At 16 she got pregnant. “My life started badly,” she said. But then came the turning point. Today, her organization works closely with doctors, health workers, police and local political leaders to address the scourge of forced marriages. She works to give women the opportunity to be first children, then girls, then adults. And only later, wives and mothers.