Syrian families in Turkey marrying off ‘underage daughters for money amid coronavirus crisis’, campaigners warn

Increasing numbers of Syrian
families are marrying off their underage daughters to Turkish men for money in
the wake of the coronavirus crisis, campaigners warned.
A damning report by ECPAT, a
network of organisations that strives to end the sexual exploitation of
children, said it is an “economic coping mechanism” for Syrian families who
have no other way to earn money or afford food for their children.
The study, which was shared
exclusively with The Independent, notes Turkey has the highest number of child
refugees in the world and argues they are highly vulnerable to forced marriage,
human trafficking, and sexual exploitation.
Ezgi Yaman, secretary
general of ECPAT Turkey, said: “We have heard of cases where Syrian families
are selling their daughters to marry — either formally or informally — Turkish
men. Sometimes to be a second or third wife of a man. This is to get rid of
them. To have one less plate at the table. The families are also getting money
to help them pay for rent. We heard several cases where the family couldn’t
afford to pay the rent to the landlord, so they say: ‘We are giving you our
daughter’.
“At the Turkish landlord’s
house, sometimes the daughters live in servitude and it is labour exploitation
but most cases also involve sexual exploitation. And sometimes the landlord
unofficially marries the Syrian daughter. We can’t provide statistics because
they are happening unofficially. Also even if the family doesn’t want it to
happen, they are underreporting incidents due to being afraid of losing their
legal documents or legal status. They don’t want to go back to Syria.
“The Turkish government does
not collect data on Syrian girls being married to Turkish men or on child
trafficking. Under Covid-19, it has been hard to reach children from Syrian
families. At least they were going to school before, where there were
protection measures and teachers could report issues to us. Domestic violence,
sexual violence and child exploitation have increased during coronavirus
because of chaos and people having less money and because everyone is at home
all the time during the lockdown.”
The coronavirus lockdown in
Turkey ended on 10 June and shops, restaurants and cafes are now open there,
although bars and clubs remain closed.
The report draws attention
to a law that was first debated in the Turkish parliament in January that would
allow men accused of having sex with girls who are under 18 to get suspended
sentences if they marry their victims and the age gap between them is less than
10 years. Researchers warn the legislation could leave female refugees in the
country at particular risk.
Ms Yaman argued the
legislation, which has been dubbed the so-called “marry-your-rapist” bill, is
likely to be brought back to parliament at some point but she could not give a
firm date.
“Many NGOs stood up against
it but they delayed it,” she added. “Possibly because of coronavirus. We have
no idea when it will be brought back. The bill will allow rapists to marry the
children who they rape. It will cause more damage to victims of rape and child
sexual exploitation. It is also a big risk for children in the wider population
who are not refugees. It goes against the human rights of children and against
human rights conventions.”
The report warns the bill
legitimises child marriage, statutory rape and gives perpetrators impunity. A
similar bill was defeated in Turkey in 2016 after national and global outrage.
The legislation would have only pardoned men if they had sex without “force or
threat”.
Selen Dogan, of Flying
Broom, a women’s non-governmental organisation based in Ankara in Turkey, told
The Independent: “Before the Turkish Panel Code amendment in 2005, rape against
women and girl children had been ‘rewarded’ by marriage. This means; when more
than one person raped a woman, if one of them marries that woman, the
punishment of others is forgiven.
“Feminist organisations and
activists struggled a lot to change this primitive law. In the end, the law was
largely amended by the demands of women’s organisations in 2005. Today, the
acquisitions, like this and so on, of women’s movements are taken away from us.
Child marriage is a consequence of gender inequality, which is infected by
conservatism.”
As of April 2020, almost
four million refugees lived in Turkey, of which 3.6 million were estimated to
have fled war-ravaged Syrian. The report warns the sexual exploitation of
Syrian children in Turkey is not only massively underreported but is barely
reported at all to the authorities despite underage girls likely to be among
victims.
The report explains an issue
linked to child, early and forced marriage in Turkey is that many of these
marriages are “only religious ceremonies known as Nikah marriages”.
“These marriages are not
recognised as official marriages by the Turkish state and therefore Syrian
girls and women married in this way are not entitled to rights and legal
protections, leaving them vulnerable to maltreatment and abuse,” the report
adds. “Interviews with Syrian women who were married in Turkish refugee camps
as children highlighted that many Syrian girls forced into these marriages are
‘exploited in every way’ and in some cases, families of the men who have
‘married’ these children feel entitled to be able to exploit them as well.”