United Nations Radio

At age eight, Nujood Ali (photo, left) of Yemen was married off to a 30 year old man. After suffering repeated beatings and rape from her husband, she made an unprecedented decision.

As we hear from UNIFEM Head of Communications, Nanette Brown, with the help of a sympathetic lawyer, she divorced him:

Brown:As a matter of fact, she went to court. Somebody had told her that she should seek a divorce in court. She went to the courthouse. The court was in session 1:01 and she waited all day and she was lucky enough to find a sympathetic judge who took her in and who took up her case. Also on that day, Nujood was very fortunate there to meet? Shada Nasser, who is a women's rights activist in Yemen and a lawyer. She had heard that a young girl nine years of age at that time was waiting in the courthouse to file for divorce and she took on her case and helped Nujood to get a divorce.

Narrator: This young girl had a lot of courage to be able to go and speak with adults in a courtroom about this problem that she had.

Brown:She certainly did. She had a lot of courage and she was fortunate to meet the right people there because the legal situation is not at all clear and on this in Yemen. And there is no minimum age, no law that stipulates the minimum age for marriage, for example. And so she was fortunate to find a sympathetic judge. She was fortunate to meet Shada Nasser. But she was also fortunate because she lives in Sanaa in the capital where there is a court. And many young women in rural areas are being married at a very early age too but they simply have no opportunity to even consider what Nujood did, 2:24 that is to file for divorce in court.

Narrator:What causes families to allow young girls as young as this young woman to enter into a marriage with men?

Brown:Very often at issue is the question of poverty. It is a question of poverty that makes parents to marry daughters at a young age so that they are "taken care of". It is also often an issue of a lack of education, a lack of knowledge on the consequences, a lack of knowledge on the rights of girls. So all of these come together. And a s a matter of act, when Nujood and her lawyer came to visit us at UNIFEM, something they couldn't emphasize enough was how important it is to education people and that education is the key to avoid early marriages.

Narrator:Do you have any details on how she got into this situation with the 30 year old man?

Brown:Her parents married her. And as a matter of fact according to Yemeni law, the marriage contract was between Nujood's father and the man she got married to.

Narrator:So What kind of education is being given to people in Yemen to help young women not to have to face this fate?

Brown:What Shada Nasser really emphasizes is not that it is a kind of special education. It is education in general, education that then also enables people to have a better economic future and have other means than for example marrying their children away at an early age. It is both a question of ignorance. It is a question of the disregard for the rights of girls and women but as I said it is also often a question of poverty.

Narrator:Nujood and her lawyer received an award.

Brown:Glamour Woman of the Year award. And there were a number of other illustrious wm this year Condoleeza Rice....and also UNIFEM's Goodwill Ambassador Nicole Kidman received an award the link to Nujood came because UNIFEM's Goodwill Ambassador Nicole Kidman was awarded for her work with UNIFEM and for her work on violence against women and early marriage is a form of violence against women and this is what brought Nujood to UNIFEM headquarters.

UNIFEM's Chief of Communications, Nanette Brown.

Producer: Gerry Adams

(duration: 3'58")