End force feeding children

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Help a Care2 Member End the Practice of Force Feeding Child Brides in Mauritania:
http://www.care2.com/causes/help-a-care2-member-end-the-practice-of-fo rce-feeding-child-brides-in-mauritania.html

'..Leblouh, or gavage, is the practice of force-feeding girls, sometimes as young as 5-years-old. The barbaric practice is especially prevalent in rural areas of the West African nation of Mauritania, where many men consider obese women beautiful, seeing their size as a sign of wealth and prestige. Gavage is reportedly experiencing a significant comeback.

To make girls more desirable they are forced to consume enormous quantities of food and liquid, and they are punished if they don’t eat and drink. A 6-year-old might typically be forced to drink 20 liters of camel’s milk, and eat two kilos of millet mixed with two cups of butter, every day.

The Death of a Child Bride

A report published earlier this year by Equality Now highlights the case of a child bride who died after being put on a dangerously high-calorie diet.

Khadijetou’s weight ballooned after she was force fed from the age of seven. She was married at eight to her father’s cousin, a man ten years older than her father.

Khadijetou was seriously obese by the time of her wedding. After she fell pregnant her health rapidly deteriorated and her doctor put her on a strict diet to lose weight. She gave birth by cesarean section to save her baby’s life.

But Khadijetou’s mother, who prized her daughter’s obesity, would not accept her weight loss and gave her a type of medication which she said women used to put on weight. The report did not identify the drug, but said its effect is to inflame and swell parts of the body.

Khadijetou’s sight deteriorated and her doctor diagnosed eye strain, something she had been treated for before her wedding. Khadijetou was just 11 when she died last June, 20 days after giving birth.

Just as Khadijetou’s mother gave her daughter medication to fatten her up, some young girls in Mauritania are taking animal growth hormones and other dangerous drugs to help pile on the pounds and make themselves more marriageable. Girls as young as eight can reach 300 pounds, putting a huge strain on their hearts and jeopardizing their health.

As a result, although it is a poor, drought-prone country, about 20 percent of females in Mauritania are obese, compared to four percent of men, according to the World Health Organisation.

In its report Equality Now calls for Mauritania to ban force feeding and child marriages, which account for over 35 percent of all marriages in the country, according to the U.N. Population Fund.

Child Marriage Must Be Eliminated

Child marriage in itself is wrong and needs to be eliminated.

The United Nations Population Fund estimates that over the next ten years more than 140 million girls will be married before their eighteenth birthday.

Child marriage is a human rights violation, often following from and leading to other human rights violations. It is a violent and abusive practice that sustains discrimination against women and girls. It excludes girls from decisions regarding the timing of marriage and the choice of spouse, and is often an abrupt and violent initiation into sexual relations.

In addition, it subjects them to other human rights violations such as female genital mutilation, domestic violence, trafficking, exploitation and curtailed education.

And in some countries, including Mauritania, it subjects them to forced feeding to make them more acceptable as brides..'