AMMAN, Jordan (CNN) -- A 12-year-old Yemeni girl, who was forced into marriage, died during a painful childbirth that also killed her baby, a children's rights group said Monday.

Fawziya Ammodi struggled for three days in labor, before dying of severe bleeding at a hospital on Friday, said the Seyaj Organization for the Protection of Children.

"Although the cause of her death was lack of medical care, the real case was the lack of education in Yemen and the fact that child marriages keep happening," said Seyaj President Ahmed al-Qureshi.

Born into an impoverished family in Hodeidah, Fawziya was forced to drop out of school and married off to a 24-year-old man last year, al-Qureshi said.

Child brides are commonplace in Yemen, especially in the Red Sea Coast where tribal customs hold sway. Hodeidah is the fourth largest city in Yemen and an important port.

More than half of all young Yemeni girls are married off before the age of 18 -- many times to older men, some with more than one wife, a study by Sanaa University found.


While it was not immediately known why Fawziya's parents married her off, the reasons vary. Sometimes, financially-strapped parents offer up their daughters for hefty dowries.

Marriage means the girls are no longer a financial or moral burden to their parents. And often, parents will extract a promise from the husband to wait until the girl is older to consummate the marriage.

The issue of Yemeni child brides came to the forefront in 2008 with 10-year-old Nujood Ali.

She was pulled out of school and married to a man who beat and raped her within weeks of the ceremony.

To escape, Nujood hailed a taxi -- the first time in her life -- to get across town to the central courthouse where she sat on a bench and demanded to see a judge.


After a well-publicized trial, she was granted a divorce.

The Yemeni parliament tried in February to pass a law, setting the minimum marriage age at 17. But the measure has not reached the president because many parliamentarians argued it violates sharia, or Islamic law, which does not stipulate a minimum age.

Yes, it's sad.
It's their customs. As long as it doesn't happen here, it should be none of our concern.
They've been operating that way for thousands of years.

Child marriages still go on in this very country of ours. Many gypsy tribes practise arranged marriages for their underage daughters. They even hold 'comin out' parties to show their daughters off to interested older men.

I missed out!
Now, if I were to get with a younger gal under 35, she'd probably kill me off with all the unbridled energy!

I have to laugh when I hear religious fanatics talking about how the end of the world is near when a huge segment of our world isn't even living in todays world. It should be our concern as human beings.

I'm not saying we should invade their countries and make changes, but we damn well shouldn't keep quite about such barbaric antiquated arrangments. We have people here in the states pulling this stuff and it should be dealt with.

You're right.
How can we go clean someone elses back yard when, we can't even keep our own clean?

There will be others who will argue it's their right to pracftice their law and religion how they wish.

Then again, there will be those who won't touch this because they been caught defending the actions of Islam.

I totally agree with needin to get rid of such things in our own country. It's mind blowin that this goes on in today's day an age in our very own country. The gypsy tribes are so closely connected an so good at keepin such things under wraps that it's not an easy thing to stop.

I'm glad someone else posted this.
They'd a been nailin' me to th' wall, lambastin' th' heII outa' me.

Ya gotta admit sometimes u deserve it

I'ma baaaaad boy!

of course it's our concern...do we only care about americans?

These are humans..just like us..that is reason enough to care

Frankly I think we deliberately over look the antiquated crap going on in this country with in each religion. Problem is they all want to keep their antiquated ways.

That would give some all the excuse they would need to go occupy another country.

This is about Saudi Arabia. An 8 year old. The Law hasn't been changed there yet.

SAUDI ARABIA: Underage marriages to be regulated
April 23, 2009 | 7:14 am
Modernists in Saudi Arabia are striking back in their ongoing fight for influence and power with hardliner Islamists in this ultraconservative nation. After a court refused for the second time to annul the marriage of an 8-year-old girl to a man 40 years older than her, the Saudi minister of justice said last week that his government was planning to regulate the marriage of underage girls.

The Saudi justice minister, Mohammed Issa, told local media that his ministry wanted to “put an end to arbitrariness by parents and guardians in marrying off minor girls."

The minister, however, did not elaborate on how marriages to minors would be kept in check. Other media reports quoting high-ranking officials said that a new law pertaining to marriage in the kingdom was being drafted and would set the minimum age of marriage as 18.



Saudi Arabia, where women are not allowed to drive or travel without the approval of a male guardian, applies one of the strictest interpretations of Islam. The marriage of minor girls to adult men has been been pushed to the forefront of public debate in the oil-rich kingdom after a prominent cleric stated earlier this year that Islamic law was not against the holy union of girls under the age of 15.

Holy Union means, bustin' th' Cherry.

Here are some interesting facts about Marriage Laws in the US.

People joke about how backwards they think Ms. is in regards to sex and marriage.

Check out New Hampshire.

Other States allow kids to get married under the age of 15.

http://www.coolnurse.com/marriage_laws.htm

Mississippi: Parental consent is needed if under 21 years of age. If parents or guardians do not give consent at time of application, they will be notified via certified mail. The marriage application will be held for three (3) days. Marriage licenses cannot be issued to males under 17, or females under 15 years of age. If the clerk receives a signed authorization from the parents, this minimum age requirement can be waived.


New Hampshire: A female between the age of 13 and 17 years and a male between the age of 14 and 17 years can be married only with the permission of their parent (guardian) and a waiver. A female below the age of 13 and a male below the age of 14 are not allowed to marry under any conditions. If both parties are nonresidents of NH and are below the age of 18 they cannot be married in NH under any conditions.

People in America care about Americans??

Since when???

Tell a family who's homeless because a family member lost their job how much Americans " care " about Americans.

Tell the child who has no idea where their next meal is coming from, while there are dozens of charities trying to get people to " feed the children " in some third world country, just how much Americans " care " about Americans.

Wait a minute, is this where the family provided a dowry with the bride, or did the husband have to pay a bride price?

It's usually all about goats and cattle.
It's not like marriage in our world.

Good point.

Yes!

Why does everybody gotta pick on Mississippi???? We wear shoes in stores now. Heck, we don't even marry above 3rd cousin no more.