October 11, International Day of the Girl, is dedicated to the fight for the rights of little girls and adolescent girls. To testify to her necessity, Fatima agreed to confide in aufeminin about her story: she escaped a forced marriage.
Girls around the world are particularly susceptible to discrimination: the most likely to have to work, to be deprived of education, to be sexually mutilated, to be forcibly married. Since 2011, October 11 is International Day of the Girl. Defending the rights of little girls and adolescent girls means guaranteeing them access to education, the right to grow up independently.
This year, the Prévenir et Protéger collective, made up of 30 associations that warn against violence to women and children, wished to focus on the forced marriage of minors. There are no official data in France on forced child marriages: “We are talking about 200,000 adult women; for children, this practice is obviously prohibited but we have no official figures” explains Aurélie Bois, from the NGO International Plan, organization co-creator of the day of the girl.
Fatima, 19, accompanied today by the Saint-Denis Women’s House, experienced this violence. She agreed to share her story with aufeminin.
“Violence is violence, there is no difference depending on where you were born”
Fatima comes from a family in Côte d’Ivoire, a country where girls marry young. Her sisters married themselves at 16. She, a brilliant student and appreciated by her teachers, wanted to study. “I was forcibly married at the age of 15 by my parents, with the help of my so-called husband’s first wife, and I was able to escape”, says Fatima.“The more I talk about it, the less it hurts. Before, I couldn’t put the words. Before, it was even hard for me to hear the word marriage”, explains the young girl. She explains to what extent forced marriage is a violence that is both specific, by the pressure young girls face, and common all over the world.
“Violence is violence, there is no difference depending on where you were born. Forced marriage is forced marriage, it’s not because you were born in France that it would be harder, or that it would be easier when you were born abroad. It’s the same violence wherever you are in the world. “
It was because I spoke a lot that I was able to get through it.
How to react to a risk of forced marriage?
The difficulty is that everything happens in the family, with people who are close and loved. However, Fatima shows that you can get out of it and rebuild yourself. “When you feel like it’s going to happen to you, the most important thing is to talk to those around you. Me, it’s because I talked a lot that I was able to get through it, I was talking everywhere. But it’s hard to talk, especially when it comes to your family. Talking, you’ll find a good person who can help us. “, advises Fatima. The young girl was helped by an NGO, and also testifies to the difficulties encountered.
“Before the wedding, there is an NGO in Ivory Coast that wanted to help me, and in fact I myself refused, because of fear, pressure from the family, I told them that this was not worth it. It was very hard for me to tell the NGO to come, because of the state in which my mother would be. So I refused “, says Fatima. For her, the pressure undergone by young girls forced to be married by force is not taken into account: “At first we don’t want to get married, but we can’t always say no. They have to take into account the pressure that pushes us to finally say yes.”
In 2013, to help victims at risk of forced marriages escape, the British association Karma Nirvana had suggested an original technique, but effective for those who flew abroad. She suggested that the young girls slip a small metal spoon into her clothes before taking the plane. Indeed, the object causes the ringing at the security gate. The opportunity for the young girl to be able to discuss with the staff of the airport, to explain her situation and to be able to be saved. Downside: this technique had to be accompanied by the training of airport staff so that they can recognize the situation and effectively help the young girls.
Fatima concludes: “I have had too much violence in my life: marriage, excision. We have no words to say that, to say how serious it is.” She is now in terminal Management and Administration in France and enjoys her studies.
Missions: Mathilde is an expert in subjects related to women’s rights and health. Addicted to Instagram and Twitter, never stingy with a good …