In a bid to put an end to forced marriages,Kyrgyzstanpresident Roza Otunbayeva has urged his people to stop making bride kidnapping acceptable.
Ms Otunbayeva made the pledge at an event organised to mark the start of a month-long campaign to combat forced marriages, which often lead to victims committing suicide.
Victims are pressurised, often through rape, to marry their abductor and in rural communities, parents often refuse to let their daughters return because of the taboos attached to having spent the night with a man, regardless of if she was raped.
The president told the AFP news agency, “Around 15,000 women each year become the victims of bride kidnapping.”
“Bride kidnapping is a tradition of the Kyrgyz people, but these crimes often force women to commit suicide,” she added.
Some have defended bride kidnapping, saying that it is done to avoid the costs of a normal wedding, rather than to force unwilling victims.
Bride kidnapping is a crime inKyrgyzstanand if the abductors are found guilty, they can face up to three years in jail.
However, the sentence is short compared to the 10 year jail sentence given to people for other abductions.
Despite it being an offence, bride kidnapping is considered a cultural tradition and few people are arrested for it.
