About three weeks ago, I wrote about an 8 year old girl in Saudi Arabia whom was sold into marriage by her father to a 47 year old man.

Now, thankfully, the Associate Press is reporting that a divorce has finally been granted.

This news comes after the girl had been married for about eight months and after several attempts by her mother to legally end the marriage. According to her lawyer, the matter was settled out of court. Also, they are reporting that the husband was 50, instead of 47, as previously stated.

This matter, and the many like it, have prompted some Saudi human rights groups to strengthen their efforts to pass a law that would make 18 the minimum age for marriage. Currently, Saudi Arabia has no legal minimum age for marriage. Legally, they do require the woman’s consent, yet “some marriage officials don't seek it.”

We don’t know how prevalent the “phenomenon” of child marriage is in Saudi Arabia because there are currently no reliable statistics. Yet, to try to “explain” this practice…

 Activists say the girls are given away in return for hefty marriage gifts or as a  result of long-standing custom in which a father promises his infant daughters and  sons to cousins out of a belief that marriage will protect them from illicit  relationships.

Right. Because the relationship between an 8 year old wife and a 50 year old husband must be soooo healthy.

Thankfully, some government officials support putting an end to child marriage.

 The kingdom's new justice minister was quoted in mid-April as saying the  government was doing a study on underage marriage that would include  regulations.

Sounds good. But hey, there’s always a flip side, right?

 Saudi Arabia's conservative Muslim clergy have opposed the drive to end child  marriages. In January, the kingdom's most senior cleric said it was permissible for  10-year-old girls to marry and those who believe they are too young are doing the  girls an injustice.

Please, sir…HOW?

It should be noted that CNN’s reporting on the story differs in some ways. They are reporting that the decision was a court ruling, prompted by “a series of pleas made by a number of officials in the region to the husband." After all of the legal setbacks, the divorce is now final. They also say that “the young girl lives with her mother…and was never told that she was married.”

The BBC  is also talking about this story. Here’s what they say about how the marriage was ended:

 A new judge was appointed to oversee the case, who issued the annulment after  the husband finally gave up his insistence that the marriage had been legal.

In two pieces, Crossroads Arabia's reporting seems to demonstrate the middle-ground of the story’s reporting.

 The case, which drew outraged attention from international human rights groups  and many Saudis, was heard by a new judge who worked with the parties to reach  a (assumedly financial) settlement. The judge who first heard the case and then  again on remand, refusing the divorce both times, did not take part in the  settlement.

And,

 The arranged marriage of an 8-year-old girl to a 50-year-old man, who has two  other wives, has been annulled in an out-of-court settlement, court sources said  Wednesday.

 The settlement, mediated by a new judge at the court, was not without lengthy  negotiations between the girl’s lawyer and the husband who clung on to the  legality of the marriage until the end of the working day, when he finally agreed to  divorce the child wife.

The point is, the marriage is now over. Thank goodness for that. Hopefully, with all of the world-wide attention this issue has amassed, real change can be brought to Saudi Arabia. Women’s rights, and human rights in general, cannot be ignored. Let’s make sure we keep our eye on stories like this and, whenever/however we can, bring these issues into the spotlight. Discuss; act; change. 

~Samantha