09 February 2021, 18:46
Ombudspersons get interested in video about girl's engagement in Georgia
After watching the posted video about the engagement in Georgia of an 11-year-old Azerbaijani girl and a 15-year-old boy, the Azerbaijan Ombudsperson has appealed to his Georgian colleague; the latter's office has launched a check.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the tradition of early marriages is still widespread in the Caucasus. In November 2019, after abduction of a 15-year-old girl, Georgian NGOs proposed to launch special programmes at schools to prevent early marriages. It is necessary to protect minors from coercion into marriages, NGOs then stated.
The "Day.az" has reported that some footage of the engagement of a 15-year-old boy with an 11-year-old cousin in the Georgian village of Ponichala (a Tbilisi suburb), where Azerbaijanis live compactly, has appeared on the Internet.
"Unfortunately, early marriages are still widespread in Georgia. Facts have shown that such cases mostly take the form of forced marriages, illegal deprivation of freedom and agreement of parents," Sabina Alieva, the Azerbaijani Ombudsperson, has stated.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 9, 2021 at 08:35 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
