The poorest country in the Arab world could soon have a new law in place that bans child marriages.

The Yemen government proposed the ban after the marriage of a nine-year-old girl to a 30-year-old man was annulled.

The girl, Nujood Ali, now 12, was forced to marry a man three times her age. She claims her husband beat and raped her repeatedly. Nujood was able to escape when she finally convinced her husband to let her visit her family. When she arrived in the city of Sanaa for the visit, she ran off, hailed a cab, and went straight to the courthouse, where a human rights lawyer helped her obtain a divorce.  

Child marriages are common in poor rural areas, especially in families with a large number of children. As soon as a daughter is married off, her parents no longer have to financially support her. Nujood was one of more than a dozen children.

The proposed law would raise the legal age at which a boy or girl could be married. Currently there is no minimum age for marriage in Yemen, but the government is hoping to raise the minimum age to 17 for girls and 18 for boys.  

While hundreds have rallied in support of the new law, conservative Muslims are against it, saying anyone who supports the law is an apostate. Furthermore, Yehya al-Raei, speaker of the parliament, said that even if the law is passed, the penalties for breaking the law, which include prison and a fine, may not be enforced.

Supporters of the law say that more than a quarter of the women in Yemen are married by the age of 15, and that girls who are married off at a young age tend to have a higher illiteracy rate and are more likely to experience complications or death during childbirth.

A final decision on the law is expected sometime this month.

If you have a divorce or family law matter you'd like to discuss with an attorney, please feel free to contact Claery & Green to arrange a consultation with an experienced Los Angeles divorce lawyer at our office!