According to the Huffington Post on Sept. 9, an 8-year-old Yemeni girl dies from internal injuries on her wedding night. It is believed that the girl died from a tear to her genitals and severe bleeding from a uterine rupture.
Identified only by the name Rawan, the girl died in the tribal area of Hardh in the governorate of Hajjah in northwestern Yemen which borders Saudi Arabia.
Yemeni and Kuwaiti activists are calling for the arrest of the girl's husband and her family for allowing the marriage to take place.
A local rights organization says this is not the first time a death has occurred because of a young girl was forced to marry a much older man. In 2010, a 13-year-old Yemeni girl who was forced into an arranged marriage died five days after her wedding when she suffered an internal rupture.
It is reported that Yemen once set 15 as the minimum age for marriage, but parliament annulled that law in the 1990s, saying parents should decide when a daughter should marry.
Parents who live in fear of poverty choose arranged marriages as a way to save their struggling families. Therefore, more young girls are being forced into arranged marriages.
According to the World Health Organization, everyday 39,000 girls younger than 18 are forced to marry,
