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Following are excerpts from a campaign launched by the Saudi Society for Defense of Women's Rights against child marriage, which aired on the Internet in January, 2009.
Title: I'm a child not a woman.
Title: Please protect my childhood by law.
Newspaper headline"The Mufti of Saudi Arabia Permits Marriage of Ten-Year-Old Girld"
Interviewer: How old are you? Could you please raise your voice?
Ten-year-old girl: I am ten.
Interviewer: You are ten? Can a ten-year-old girl get married?
Girl: No.
Interviewer: Why can't she get married?
Girl: Because she's too small.
Interviewer: Because she's too small. Thank you, dear.
Newspaper headline: "The 'Uneiza Girl's Marriage: Marriage Annulment Refused"
Interviewer: How old are you?
Second ten-year-old girl: Ten.
Interviewer: Ten years old? Can a ten-year-old girl get married?
Girl: No.
Interviewer: Why? Because she's what?
Girl: She's too small.
Interviewer: Thank you, dear.
Newspaper headline: "The Husband of the 'Uneiza Girl Adds Her Name to the Family Identity Card"
Interviewer: How old are you?
Eight-year-old girl: I am eight.
Interviewer: And how old are you?
Nine-year-old girl: I am nine.
Interviewer: What do you think? Can girls your age be married?
Eight-year-old girl: No
Interviewer: Why not?
Eight-year-old girl: Because we are too small.
Interviewer: Do you agree with this?
Nine-year-old girl: Yes.
Interviewer: In other words, children should not be married?
Eight-year-old girl: Right.
Interviewer: Thank you.
Twelve-year-old girl: I am 12 years old. I am a child, not a woman. How can they marry off children? I hope to become an engineer when I grow up.
Newspaper headline: "It Is Permitted to Marry a Child When She Can Bear the Burden"
Interviewer: How old are you?
Sixteen-year-old girl: I am 16 years old.
Interviewer: Do you think a girl your age can get married?
Girl: Of course not.
Interviewer: Why not?
Girl : Because she can't handle the responsibility of a family, a home, a husband, pregnancy, and so on. This is a great responsibility. It is hard.
Newspaper headline: "Legal Activist Requests Two Ministries to Prevent the Marriage of Her Two Minor Daughters"
Interviewer: How old are you?
Thirteen-year-old girl: I am 13.
Interviewer: Do you think a girl your age can get married?
Girl: No.
Interviewer: Why not?
Girl: Because she is young and doesn't know anything about marriage.
Interviewer: So you would not agree to be married now?
Girl: Of course not.
Interviewer: Thank you.
Interviewer: Hello, girls.
Girls: Hi.
Interviewer: May I ask how old you are?
Twenty-year-old: I am 20.
Sixteen-year-old: I am 16.
Interviewer: What do you think about child marriages?
Twenty-year-old: To be honest, we do not support this. First of all, there is a big difference in the way they think. The girl is young and can't handle the responsibility of marriage. This is a heavy responsibility.
Interviewer: Do you think there should be a legal age limit?
Sixteen-year-old: Sure, that's how it is all over the world.
Interviewer: What is the age?
Sixteen-year-old: 18 is the accepted age.
Fourteen-year-old girl: I am 14 years old.
Interviewer: How old are you?
Seventeen-year-old: I am 17.
Interviewer: Would you want to be married at your age?
Both girls: No. Of course not.
Interviewer: How come?
Fourteen-year-old: Because we are young. How can we get married when we are still too small? We don't know how to raise our siblings, so how could we raise children?
Seventeen-year-old: I have hopes for the future. If I get married, how can I raise children? I am thinking about my future.
Newspaper headline: "The Human Rights Association Strives to Put an End to Child Marriage"
[...]
Interviewer: You are six years old. Do you go to school? What grade are you in?
Six-year-old girl: First grade.
Interviewer: Can a girl in first grade be married?
Girl: No.
Interviewer: Why not?
Girl: Because she is too small.
[...]
Thirteen-year-old girl: I am 13 years old. I am too young to be married. I want the law to protect us, so we will not be married at the age of ten plus. I have aspirations. I am still young, I haven't seen the world yet. We are still children, how can we raise children? We cannot be expected to raise children, while we are still young. I would like to become a scientist. I don't want this responsibility. We ask you, our Father [King] Abdallah, to protect us by law, so that we get married only at the legal age.
Newspaper headline: "An Attempt to Marry Off Two Children – One Aged 5 – Was Thwarted"
Newspaper headline: "UNICEF Warns against Child Marriage"
Crying Child: I don't want to get married.
Title: No to Child Marriages
Title: The Prophet Muhammad said: "They will be honored only by the honorable, and they will be humiliated only by the depraved."
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