‘A race against time’: the new law putting Somalia’s children at risk of marriage
Child marriage in the country has increased during coronavirus – and now a newly-tabled bill would allow children as young as 10 to marry
Fardowsa Salat Mohamed was 15 when her cousin asked her parents for her hand in marriage. Her father did not hesitate to say yes. When Mohamed objected, her father asked her to choose between “a curse and a blessing”.
“That was not a choice for me, I was basically forced,” she says. “No girl would ever choose to be cursed by her parents so I had to accept the marriage,”