Syrian refugees 'sold for marriage' in Jordan

Sulieman
By Sulieman

Desperately, young age girls get married in order to provide money for their families.

After that they were princesses in their country, now they are forced to marry any person to because of the lack of resources such as eating and drinking
500,000 Syrian immigrants in Jordan in "AL-Za'tari" Camp and there is not enough resources for everyone.

These young girls parents became forced to search for somebody to marry their daughters, even in a very young age, and none of these marriages last for a long time.

A small country like Jordan with the limited resources they have, they tried their best, but it can't be enough, as it is crowded now with people from all the Arab countries(Libya, Syria, Iraq, Egypt)

And finally ,,, Now it doesn't matter if you are in or out of Syria, you will never feel free.

Wish that could end One day.

---------------------------------------------------------

Before the war began, Kazal was in love with her neighbor in Homs. "He was 20 years old and I dreamed of marrying him one day," she says. "I never thought I would marry someone I didn't love, but my family and I have been through some hard times since coming to Amman."

Kazal says she is 18 but looks much younger. She has just got divorced from a 50-year-old man from Saudi Arabia who paid her family about US $3,100 (UK £2,000) to marry her. The marriage lasted one week.

"I lived with my husband in Amman, but we weren't happily married. He treated me like a servant, and didn't respect me as a wife. He was very strict with me. I'm happy that we're divorced."

Her huge, blue eyes fill with tears when she talks about the marriage.

Continue reading the main story

Start Quote

You can call it rape, you can call it prostitution, you can call it what you want, but it's preying on the weakest”

Andrew Harper
UNHCR
"I agreed to it so I could help my family. When I got engaged I cried a lot. I won't get married for money again. In the future I hope to marry a Syrian boy who's my own age."

'Survival sex'
Andrew Harper, the Representative of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Jordan, is concerned that some of the 500,000 Syrian refugees in the country are increasingly turning to such desperate measures.

"We don't have enough resources to give aid to all those who need it. The vast majority of refugees are women and children. Many of them are not used to going out to work, so survival sex becomes an option."

His office in central Amman is surrounded by hundreds of newly arrived refugees, waiting in long lines to register for aid. He says the UNHCR has intervened with some families who have been offering their daughters up for early marriage.

"I can't think of anything more disgusting than people targeting refugee women… You can call it rape, you can call it prostitution, you can call it what you want but it's preying on the weakest.

"The government and people of Jordan are doing what they can but people are poor and we have to get more resources into the community so families aren't forced into something that deep down I believe they don't want to do."

Kazal's agreed to the marriage to help her family
Short-term marriages between men from the Gulf and Syrian girls reportedly happened before the war began. But Kazal's mother Manal, who dresses conservatively like her daughter in an abaya and headscarf, says she would have never considered such an arrangement in the past.

"Life here is very hard and we receive very little aid. We have a baby who needs lots of milk every day, and we can't afford to pay the rent. So I had to sacrifice Kazal to help the other members of the family."

She says that the marriage was arranged by an Amman-based NGO called Kitab al-Sunna, which gives cash, food and medicines to refugees. It is funded by donations from individuals across the Arab world.

read more:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-22473573

"When I went for help at the NGO they asked to see my daughter. They said they would find a husband for her."

By Riham Hannaa• 9 Jul 2018 14:04
Riham Hannaa

Will the best way to help Syrian peoples, is to donate clothes to refugees of Syria. here is the link through which you can easily donate clots to Syrians.

https://www.humancaresyria.org/how-to-donate-clothes-to-syrian-refugees-all-year-round/

By britexpat• 11 May 2013 19:35
Rating: 5/5
britexpat

Thanks.. Great reading, but I must have missed the bit about the importing wives.

I actually worked in Pristina for a while. Its a beautiful place with great friendly people. There were mosques and churches , but no conflict. Very laid back.

One thing of note.. As you drive out of Pristina Airport, there is a massive billboard with Tony Blair's photo and teh words "Thankyou Mr. Blair"

By MarcoNandoz-01• 11 May 2013 18:37
MarcoNandoz-01

Brit: At your service, Oh Holy One.

http://repository.library.georgetown.edu/bitstream/handle/10822/552832/minnockDebra.pdf?sequence=1

By zaheer_sayyed• 11 May 2013 16:47
zaheer_sayyed

Sad : (

By britexpat• 11 May 2013 16:14
britexpat

Can you please provide me with a link regarding that..

Thanks

By nomerci• 11 May 2013 16:04
nomerci

Sulieman, if we did not know better, the whole situation would be simply unbelievable.

On the other hand, serious distress brings out the best in some people, in others the worst.

And gangsters/criminals have their hey day in situations where people are extremely vulnerable.

By Sulieman• 11 May 2013 15:51
Sulieman

nomerci ,, You are right

when it comes from our people it is even worse.

and it is not just about being trafficked

Do you know that they figured some HIV cases in "Al-Zaatari" camp in Jordan, some Syrian guys where raping the poor girls from their countries.

By nomerci• 11 May 2013 15:47
nomerci

Marco, they were also trafficked to Europe by their own people.

By MarcoNandoz-01• 11 May 2013 15:22
MarcoNandoz-01

Kind of reminds me of the Balkan girls during war times in Kosovo

Rich Saudi men imported many of those blondes young teen age girls for second third and fourth wives .

Disgusting

By Sulieman• 11 May 2013 15:14
Sulieman

FathimaH ,,, Yes,, pity that the girls thought they escaped from the war in their country, and then they faced that ghost whom they called "Marriage"

By nomerci• 11 May 2013 15:11
Rating: 4/5
nomerci

If parts of society were not willing to do this horrific injustice to those girls, it would not happen.

Apparently, they are very willing to exploit and abuse young girls and destitute families.

Shame !

By Sulieman• 11 May 2013 15:10
Sulieman

brit my dear

Sometimes people choose by themselves and fail.

You can't predict the Intents of people.

After all, I didn't say that i agree or i didn't.

For me it looks like a legal raping, if i were one of the parents i would never do that for my daughter unless i did know the Husband personally, but it is also not that Organization's problem -They didn't force anybody to get married- it is (unfortunately)a supply and demand issue or take it or leave it, No?

By FathimaH• 11 May 2013 15:08
FathimaH

As Brit said sometimes poverty, dependence, and incapacity can bring out the worst in some people, even parents, driving them to do even to their children what the parents mentioned in the OP did. My heart truly aches for these girls, who having escaped the horrors that unfolded in their home country, have now to face yet more trials and oppression.

By Sulieman• 11 May 2013 15:07
Sulieman

Good old joe ,, ohh dear

You knocked the wrong door .. this is the not the good morning thread :O)

By Good old joe• 11 May 2013 14:59
Good old joe

The funny thing about this countries and places(syria and Jordan included) is that the people there blindly supported their leaders who fooled them by blaming Israel, the USA and anybody and everybody else for their misfortune and for anything and everything else but never themselves. It is only now and a bit to late that they have finally woken upto the fact that their own leaders were and are responsible for the misery the people find themselves in at the moment

By timepass.com• 11 May 2013 10:40
timepass.com

one words i just say allah swt shall protect them and forgot ther bad sin and give them happines.

By frez.joe• 11 May 2013 10:35
frez.joe

You got it BX!

By anonymous• 11 May 2013 10:32
anonymous

thesurprised..welcome back

By anonymous• 11 May 2013 10:12
anonymous

Very sad that gulf Arabs are exploiting young girls for prostittues and them hiding behind religion to do it as they are 'married'

By britexpat• 11 May 2013 10:12
britexpat

If this is the case, then surely their "vetting" process is not very good..

By Sulieman• 11 May 2013 10:05
Rating: 2/5
Sulieman

Sense Mine ,,, The situation is not as easy as you think, the war is not with Syria, it is with Iran And Russia as well.

So that's why everybody is trying to hide his head on the ground.

What a Pity

But Don't you think it is not Just about Arabs,, what is happening there is touching everybody ,, everywhere ,, why to put all the weights of the Arab countries and say "Well, It is not our business"

By Sulieman• 11 May 2013 10:00
Rating: 4/5
Sulieman

brit ,, Quran and Sunnah Society (AL-Hitab w AL-Sunna)

Is a society established to help people and found solutions for the Contemporary Issues, what the word "arranged" here means is:

To find matches for the families, but not forcing them.

As they are an Islamic Organization they can prepare the marriage to be official.

By frez.joe• 11 May 2013 09:57
frez.joe

By NGO,,, prostitution in legal way, why this culprits hunt poor girls like Kazal to fulfill their thirst, why they can't help them without an intention like this!

By Sense Mine• 11 May 2013 09:55
Sense Mine

means of survival..what to do yanni..arab countries are not uniting either to resolve that long time civil war happening in Syria...they only watch innocent civilians most are women and children dying everyday.

By cutiepinky• 11 May 2013 09:54
cutiepinky

Oh, so sad. Hope she can find happiness in her pitiful situation. It shows that "Real Happiness can not be bought with money".

By britexpat• 11 May 2013 09:48
Rating: 3/5
britexpat

What I find truly worrying is that the marriage was "arranged by an Amman-based NGO called Kitab al-Sunna, which gives cash, food and medicines to refugees."

Surely, this is NOT the job of the NGO.

By frez.joe• 11 May 2013 09:44
Rating: 5/5
frez.joe

Oh man, what a sad story, why these arabs won't involve n turn this war to an end, these peoples r really busy with their own pride building tallest tower etc, something could be done for their league,leave the war definitely they can help refugees for sure, but shame on them, they never give a try even,but countries like Jordan n Lebanon done their very best,salute them!

By Molten Metal• 11 May 2013 09:37
Rating: 4/5
Molten Metal

Very sorry to know ...

But these type of political fall outs happen evry now & then around the globe ...

By anonymous• 11 May 2013 09:28
anonymous

finding a rich hubby to survive :(. Hope situation in syria will be ok soon. back to normal like before. children, elderly, women are suffering. :( arrgghh!

By Sulieman• 11 May 2013 09:22
Sulieman

What a future for these poor girls!

the world silence of what is happening right there will lead to a huge problems, some of it has no solutions.

By britexpat• 11 May 2013 09:15
britexpat

How sad for the girl. Poverty and need make us do diabolical things.

The ba$tard who married her should be ashamed of himself.

Hope she and others in a similar situation can find happiness in their lives..

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