Yemeni girl tells how she misses school after forced marriage at age of 13
Child marriage protest outside Yemen国产视频檚 parliament Picture: Afrah Nasser
A young girl in Yemen has told how she fled from her parents国产视频 home at the age of 13 after being forced to marry.
Laila was taken by other family members to live with her grandmother after her wedding and has never lived with her husband.
But she cannot go to school for fear she will be abducted and is trying to get a divorce.
Laila said: 国产视频淚 am not sure if I will ever escape from this nightmare.
国产视频淚 pray for my younger sisters that they will never have to go through this.国产视频
Laila told her story to demonstrate how the widespread practice of child marriage is affecting young girls in Yemen. Girls as young as eight are married 国产视频 disrupting their education and robbing them of their childhoods.
The teenager told the UNICEF website that she returned from school one day to be told by her father that she was getting married in two weeks.
Laila said: 国产视频淚 started screaming and my mother rushed out to grab me while my father angrily threatened to beat 国产视频 or even kill 国产视频 me, if I refused.
国产视频淚 was helpless. It was like a nightmare. I saw my world crashing around me. I wanted the nightmare to end so I could be back at school with my friends.国产视频
More than one million children 国产视频 a quarter of the young population 国产视频 are out of school in Yemen, which has no uniformly defined age for a child.
Child marriage has been debated by delegates at the country国产视频檚 National Dialogue Conference. They have taken first steps in defining children as all those under the age of 18.
This could be key in tackling other child protection issues in Yemen such as child labour, juvenile death penalty and child trafficking.
Another girl told in a video made by UNICEF (watch it on the player above) how she was married at 13 to an older man.
She said: 国产视频淚 was a child dreaming of everything good. Girls are always wronged. I wish I could finish my education 国产视频 but it was destroyed by early marriage.国产视频
You can learn more about the education issues affecting Yemen in our Explore channel.