Nariman Kalash opens the door to her abode timidly. She has been married for less than a month, and it is not appropriate for her to leave the sparse one-room caravan without her husband's consent.
At 17, Kalash is young, shy and more than a little disappointed that her recent wedding — a day she dreamed of as a girl — took place in a crowded and squalid refugee camp in northern Jordan, far from her home in the Syrian village of Ma'arbeh.
"Getting married as a refugee is not really what every girl dreams of but that is my life right now," says Kalash bitterly, tucking stray hairs underneath a loosely fitting hijab.
On Wednesday, the United Nations said the number of Syrian refugees hit 1 million, and the Syrians in border camps who are waiting out the fighting in their country are increasingly forced to make hard choices to support their families as the conflict lasts longer than many anticipated.
Young Syrian women are agreeing to marry to ease the financial burden on their parents of caring for them, say humanitarian groups here. And some families are striking deals in which suitors pay for the privilege of marrying a daughter.
"The young girls are starting to see themselves as burdens on their families and are agreeing to marry because of economic pressures," says Dakota Hankin, who oversees the International Rescue Committee's (IRC) programs for Syrian women and girls in northern Jordan.
Desperate parents,china wholesale bridesmaid dresses she says, are being forced to consider using their daughters as "economic bailout," or a way to get the rest of the family out of the camp.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres,cheap demetrios wedding dresses made in china said the Syria refugee situation is heading toward a "full-scale disaster.Embroidery lace dress" Syria President Bashar Assad's military forces continue to pound cities where anti-Assad Syrians are fighting.
In addition to an estimated 70,000 civilians killed in the two-year uprising, 2 million Syrians have been forced to leave their homes, half of whom have sought safety just over the border in Lebanon,high neck wedding dresses gowns Jordan and Iraq.
"With a million people in flight, millions more displaced internally, and thousands of people continuing to cross the border every day, Syria is spiraling towards full-scale disaster,Bridal gown" Guterres said.
Kalash says she was fortunate to receive a marriage proposal from a Syrian man. Other young women — some even younger than the legal marrying age of 17 — have been pressured into marrying local Jordanian men or even men from other parts of the Arab world who may treat them poorly, IRC says.
"While there is supervision of marriages inside the camp, the minute they leave, no one is following up what happens to the families or to the girls," Hankin says.
After proudly showing some photos of herself in a wedding dress, Kalash admits that she is one of the lucky ones. She lives, for now, just yards from the U.N.-provided tent where her parents and siblings are living.
Hankin explains that many refugees have described how local sheikhs say they are helping families by facilitating marriages for young Syrian girls. There have also been reports of taxi drivers offering "Syrian brides" to single men visiting the region.
Most Syrians arrive with very little. Stories abound of families forced to sell all they had just to get safe passage out of the country. The IRC estimates that there are roughly 200,000 urban-based Syrians living across Jordan, and official figures from the Za'atari camp show that more than 100,000 live inside. Hundreds more cross the border everyday, according to official Jordanian army sources.
Although there is food and shelter, there are other needs that cannot be met without making a purchase. And for a family to get out to a town where they can establish themselves and perhaps start again, that costs money, too.
An IRC report shows that early marriage is a growing concern. Asma Donahue, Women's Protection and Empowerment Technical Adviser for the organization, says that often early or arranged marriages are seen as a safety mechanism for young girls in times of trouble. The IRC has said that aid providers, such as the U.S. State Department, need to think long term, funding job and skills training so girls can earn money to help their families rather than marrying men they barely know.
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