Syrian child brides infiltrating into Europe says leaked report

Too young to wed

34 Syrian child brides are among the thousands who applied for asylum in the Netherlands, says a leaked internal report from the Dutch Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND). These marriages will soon be forbidden in a draft law, but the ban is still not in force. The IND states that two of the girls are just thirteen years of age, whereas a 38-year-old man in Holland claimed to be married to a 15-year-old Syrian.

They come from refugee camps in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey where they are forced into early marriages.

Dutch newspaper Trouw states that there are an average of three Syrian child brides per week applying for asylum in the Netherlands since the refugee crisis began.

The situation is of concern to organizations combating child abuse. UK’s newspaper Daily Mail reported that “rape and child abuse are rife in German refugee camps” due to unsegregated cnditions where women are seen as fair game. Some victims, notes the newspaper are too terrified to even report the sexual assaults.