Human rights group publishes shocking report about child marriage in Burkina Faso

A new report from a human rights group is putting the spotlight on child marriage in Burkina Faso. 

On Monday, Amnesty International released a report detailing how girls in the West African nation are forced into marriage.

“My dad married me off to a 70-year-old man who already has five wives. He threatened me saying if I don’t join my husband he will kill me,” Amnesty quoted a 13-year-old girl named Maria as saying.

Thirty percent of maternal deaths in the country could have been prevented if women had better access to birth control, said the 50-page report, which was titled Coerced and denied: forced marriages and barriers to contraception in Burkina Faso. 

Over 50% of girls in #BurkinaFaso are married before 18. #ChildMarriage must end now! https://t.co/c11CHnhp5x pic.twitter.com/Cnil8QRuSj

— AmnestyInternational (@amnesty) April 26, 2016

Burkina Faso (population 17.4 million) is a former French colony that achieved independence in 1960. The nation is about 60% Muslim, but has a substantial Catholic minority.

Many families in the country marry off their daughters in order to forge family alliances or increase their social status, Amnesty said, adding that girls are sometimes sold for goods or money.

Burkina Faso has experienced instability in recent years. In 2014, popular protests ousted the president, who had been in power since 1987. 

In January, 23 people were killed in an attack at the Splendid Hotel and the Cappuccino Restaurant in Ouagadougou, the capital city when armed militants took over 175 hostages. Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb later claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was perpetrated because of "revenge against France and the disbelieving West." 

--HS