INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE GIRL CHILD; DEVASTATING WORLD OF CHILD BRIDES

Tahani (front), 8, with her husband Majed, 27, and her former classmate Ghada (rear), 8,
and her husband outside in Yemen

The United Nations designated October 11 as the International Day of the Girl Child in an effort to start a global conversation about the devastating effects of early marriages, which are currently practiced in more than 50 developing countries. To mark the occasion and draw attention to the problem of child brides, photojournalist Stephanie Sinclair teamed up with National Geograpic to create  a series of heart-breaking photos depicting girls as young as five years old being married off to middle-aged men in countries like Yemen, India and Ethiopia. 

Pls read more about this perverted culture after the cut... 

Faiz, 40 (left), and Ghulam (right), 11, sit in her home prior to their wedding in the rural
 Damarda Village, Afghanistan on September 11, 2005

 Debritu, right, 14, escaped from her husband while seven month pregnant

Rock bottom: A young prostitute named China sits stunned after being beat
up by a man visiting Kabele Five in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia

Nujood Ali, was ten when she fled her abusive, much older husband and took a taxi to
the courthouse in Sanaa, Yement

Gruesome: Police woman Malalai Kakar (back right) arrests Janan, 35, after he tried to kill
 his 15-year-old wife Jamila for angering him by fleeing her home to
 stay with her mother following years of abuse

Child mothers: Asia, a 14-year-old mother, washes her new baby girl at home in
Hajjah while her two-year-old daughter plays