NAJRAN: Only days after the Human Rights Commission (HRC) urged the public and the media to “stand against the marriage of minors”, Al-Watan Arabic daily reported Friday that a man in Najran had taken a 12-year-old girl as his wife. The man, whose name was not revealed but who is a “ma'dhoun” – an official licensed to certify marriage contracts – said that the father of the girl had asked him not to consummate the marriage for a year. “I was actually quite surprised by how young she was physically, and she asked me: ‘Why has my family brought me to you?'” the man told Al-Watan. He continued by saying that he then ceded to the wishes of his own mother in consummating the union. “After two months of marriage my mother pressed me to consummate it, saying that ‘there's no such thing as a young girl',” he said. He then described how he persuaded his wife. “I told her about our father and mother Adam and Eve, and I managed to consummate the marriage after several attempts over two weeks.” Al-Watan, which described the man as one of the most well-known ma'dhouns in the Najran region, said that it had only a day earlier been given statements by an official from the National Society of Human Rights saying that the organization was taking official steps to tackle the issue of ma'dhouns who certify marriages to minors. Saudi Gazette reported on Oct. 8 a statement from the government-affiliated Human Rights Commission (HRC) calling upon individuals, civil groups and the media to stand against the marriage of minors. The HRC statement, released last Wednesday, described the marriage of young girls to older males as a “violation of children's rights found in the Convention on the Rights of the Child of which the Kingdom is a signatory”. The HRC said it was also drawing up a legal framework to protect against the abuse of underage girls' rights, prompted by press reports of a previous case in which a 13-year-old girl was married off to a man in his fifties. “HRC specialists were tasked with investigating all the circumstances behind the case. This is a violation of the rights of this child, who still needs family care and an education, and to enjoy her childhood,” the statement said. Saudi Gazette has also previously reported that the Ministry of Justice had banned ma'dhoun officials from signing unions involving themselves or females under their legal guardianship. Al-Watan did not state in its report Friday who certified the marriage of the ma'dhoun in Najran.
