Ethiopian Girl Wins $150,000 for Rape, Abduction and Marriage At 13
Nairobi — The Ethiopian government has been ordered to pay $150,000 to a girl who was raped, abducted and forced to agree to marriage at the age of 13, in a landmark ruling activists hope will deter an outlawed, traditional form of child marriage.
Woineshet Zebene Negash, who was raped in 2001, filed a complaint with the Gambia-based African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights in 2007 after Ethiopia’s court overturned the conviction of her perpetrator.
“It is a practice that draws stark parallels with a proverbial ancient past when a man would hunt down the female of his choice, slug her over the head with a club, drag her by the hair to his dwelling, rape her and emerge triumphantly beating his chest,” the court said in a ruling released this week.
Ethiopia must pay reparations to Woineshet, the court said, because it failed to protect her or provide her with justice.
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