The drama of Mexican child brides, sold to the highest bidder at the age of 9

The drama of Mexican child brides, sold to the highest bidder at the age of 9

In general silence, in some areas of Mexico, girls are given up as brides for money at the age of about 9.

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In general silence, in some areas of Mexico, girls are given up as brides for money at the age of about 9. This is how their childhood ends abruptly and the nightmare begins, made up of violence and abuse 





Nobody talks about it, but in Mexico every year thousands of girls are given to brides in exchange for sums of money that can reach 200.000 pesos (which corresponds to about 8500 euros). A terrible practice that has been going on for decades, particularly in the state of Guerrero, despite the fact that in Mexico child marriages were abolished by law in 2014. But Guerrero is not the only area in the country where girls are forced to marry men bigger than them, then becoming real slaves. It also occurs in Oaxaca, Tabasco, Michoacán and other states.

According to a recent report dell'INSAD (Research in Health and Demography), in Mexico 1 in 4 girls (or 23%) are married or already in a forced relationship before the age of 18 and living in the countryside is a risk factor. In fact, in 14 out of 32 states, 30% of minors already have a husband.

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Girls sold to men and forced to suffer violence 

Thus it happens that girls of just nine years, "before the moon touches them" (we use to say this to indicate that girls have not even had their menstruation yet), are literally sold to the highest bidder. And everything happens very lightly.

“Take a treasure, the flower of this garden”: with phrases like this, the father gives his daughter to the future husband during the ceremony, complete with banquet, music and dancing. But the nightmare has only just begun for girls because married life is even worse. In most cases, newly married girls are forced to suffer violence and abuse of all kinds by the men who bought them as if they were merchandise. Sometimes the payment is made bartering cattle or even with beer.



In the office of the lawyer Neil Arias, of the Tlachinollan Human Rights Center, many girls of about 20 years old but already with two or three children arrive, who have decided to put an end to violence during their married life.

They do not give their consent, so the violence starts there - explains the lawyer Arias - Nor are they asked if they want to have children, it is imposed on them. The man always repeats the same sentence: I paid you. They treat them like an object and are raped for years.

A brutal practice closely linked to poverty

But how can we act to stop this barbarism? The situation is much more complex than it seems because we are dealing with extremely poor indigenous communities. 

“We have to take into account what the money from the agreement is for and we are talking about very poor communities, where sometimes those resources are needed to build a house or to pay a doctor. Yes, it is slavery. Yes, it is violence. But we cannot criminalize indigenous peoples ”.

On several occasions, human rights activists have tried to try to change things, but in vain.

“We went to give seminars to some communities with the members of the Secretariat for Women, but when these problems arise they get very angry. We also left those cities in fear, ”says Consuelo Sierra Solana, head of the department for women's participation in Metlatónoc, one of the Mexican cities where the practice is deeply rooted. 



Source: Girls not Brides/INSAD/El País 

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