Dutch Law Tolerates Child Marriages

by Madeleine Kando

One of the more disturbing aspects of the Refugee Crisis in Europe, is the 'child bride' phenomenon. For the past year and a half, at least 34 Syrian child brides have applied for asylum in the Netherlands, among them girls aged 13, 14 and 15.

As described in a recent article in the Dutch Magazine 'Elsevier', adult men who marry underage girls in their own country, can legally have their brides come to the Netherlands within the framework of 'family reunification', which means that the Netherlands is in fact participating in marriages that are often forced upon a child.

The basis for this is the Dutch Civil Code which says that: 'If a marriage is performed legally in the country of origin, is has to be recognized as valid', even though such a marriage would not be legal, if performed in the Netherlands. In other words, under this ruling, a Moroccan man living in the Netherlands can have multiple wives if these marriages were legally performed in Morocco, where polygamy is allowed.

Child marriage is one of the most heinous practices that exist in the world. It is tantamount to slavery and sex trafficking. There are 20 countries (mostly in Africa) where almost 50% of girls marry before the age of 18, often as young as 15. In Niger it is 76%.

As a country, 'Holland is steadfast in its belief that child marriage should be illegal in all countries. It believes that when someone is forced into marriage at a young age with or without their consent, it is a violation of that person’s rights.' That is what development Minister Lilianne Ploumen told the UN General Assembly a few years back. But you cannot condone child marriage in your immigrant population in the name of 'multiculturalism' and at the same time call yourself 'a stark supporter of the rights of individuals'.

There is currently a proposal in Dutch Parliament, to remedy this loophole, by only recognizing a marriage performed abroad, if both partners are 18 years or older. But the language in the new proposal leaves a lot of leeway for unsavory practices to still take place: 'A marriage between cousins will not be illegal, it will just be 'rendered more difficult'. Marriages made under duress will not be annulled outright, there will be 'more opportunities to annul them'. The recognition of polygamous marriages contracted abroad will not be made illegal, they will just be 'restricted'.

I wasn't aware of the true meaning of political correctness and its power to twist something that is so obviously wrong into something that can be viewed 'from both sides', until I watched an interview with Anthropologist Marjo Buitelaar, in which she is not outright defending the practice of child marriage, but 'explains' the pros and cons. 'Because of the danger of rape in the refugee camps in the countries surrounding the conflict zones, marrying off young girls is a precautionary tactic and protects the family's reputation. It is difficult to marry them off once they are no longer virgins' she says. 'Marriage at such a young age may be traumatic, but it is less traumatic than being raped and ending up being 'damaged goods'.

I had to pinch myself, listening to this reasonable sounding scholar, trying to justify the practice of child marriage by enumerating its many advantages. The dowry, the protection against rape, the fact that in Islamic culture, a menstruating 12 year old is ready for marriage, etc…. Who are WE, self-righteous westerners, to judge their practices? The reporter ended the interview with the words 'So you are warning us not to impose our Western value onto the situation?' 'Not entirely, as an anthropologist I think we should listen to what the girls (she calls them meiden) and their families have to say, before we form an opinion.'

But do we not only have a right but the obligation to put an end to this practice, no matter what the extenuating circumstances are? Isn't our obligation to protect these children by educated them and their parents as well as work on implementing changes in the way rapists are held accountable for their crimes? Who is she to tell us that we have to 'understand' and accept what is completely unacceptable? The phallocentric culture of many of the countries where child marriage is rampant is not something we should promote or tolerate. On the totem pole of power, men are at the top. Women come next, then children. But on the lowest rung are girls. They have no voice, no power.

Holland is not the only country that is trying to deal with badly written immigration laws. Canada and Britain both have the same problem. Canadian immigration officials have the option to refuse an application, since the marriage will not be valid as per Canadian laws. The young brides won't be allowed in Canada, although it should be the husbands that should be deported and the girls given asylum.

Child marriage has a devastating effect on girls. Pregnancy at too young an age is the leading cause of death for girls ages 15 through 19. Married girls are more likely to contract HIV because they marry older men who have had multiple partners. The younger the bride, the more likely they experience domestic violence. The risks that pregnancy brings when a girl's body is not ready for it results in stillbirths, maternal death and often causes a devastating childbirth injury called obstetric fistula**.

There are 51 million child brides in the world and the number is increasing. In Iran child marriages has increased by 30% between 2006 and 2009 and the country is pushing to lower the legal marriage for girls to age 9 from the current 13. The Iranian Parliament regards the law that prohibits girls below the age of 10 from being married off to be "un-Islamic and illegal," pointing to the Prophet Muhammad as an example: he married a six-year-old bride, and consummated the marriage when she was only nine years old.

Watch this documentary by photojournalist Stephanie Sinclair: Too Young to Wed: The Secret World of Child Brides



It shows the terrible consequences of child marriage, both for the societies that practice it and for the children whose childhood is taken away from them. Are we willing to contribute to this nightmare, all in the name of multiculturalism? leave comment here

** An obstetric fistula is a childbirth complication due to obstructed labor when the tissues between a woman’s vagina and her bladder or rectum are damaged from the continuous pressure from the baby’s head stuck in the birth canal. The dead tissue falls off resulting in a hole through which the woman continuously leaks urine or feces or sometimes both.