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Is it just me - or does our government ( and the USA ) spend alot of time with the Saudis ? and yet in their country it is legal for Child Brides.

A 12 year old girl marrying an 80 year old man is in my view not acceptable in any culture. Surely if we have laws in our country ( rightly ) which would mean this would not happen why are our Government and Royal Family supporting a regime which allows this ?

Surely we should be asking them to stop this practice or impose sanctions on Saudi Arabia for human rights issues.

Or is the DARK TRUTH that our ELITE LEADERSHIP actually think this is acceptable and they also believe child brides and sex is preferable to normal relationships ?

A big question - but at the moment surely the evidence points towards our ELITE yet again supporting paedophiles.

Finally - can you imagine the TABLOID ANGER is GARY GLITTER took on a 12 year old child bride next week somewhere in the World...........and yet our media sees this happening in Saudi Arabia on a daily basis and has hardly raised an eyebrow.

Double standards of the UK media.

you are entirely correct BR but we must never upset the Saudis.

This is pretty much a cultural thing.Arranged marriages are the norm,and the Prophet Mohamed married a 9 yo....if you're an Arab muslim then so long as it's marriage it's ok.

these things are reported as oddities.

where are the so-called (self appointed) child 'protection groups?

never heard because to upset the Saudis would mean no govt grants and no power building.

We can make "Cultural excuses" for alot of things - but I remember massive campaigns against Bullfighting and Bearbaiting in the UK in the media.

Surely having 8 or 9 year olds married off to men in their 60s and 70s and here 80s is wrong ? and not just "cultural".

Either Child Abuse exists - and I would say any child under 13 having sex with an old man is child abuse - wouldnt everyone agree ? even if it is culturally acceptable ?

Yes the age of consent though mainly 16 years old - varies between 13 - 21 in most countries - and yes I have no problem with that at all. If the law says a 13 year old is mature enough then fine - but I dont see an 8 year old or 9 year old or 10 year old or 11 year old or 12 year old being old enough to decide who they should marry in any culture. It actually makes me feel sick.

Yes I accept that when life expectancy was less than 40 years in bygone centuries this was acceptable practice to marry off children - BUT now with medical advances to have someone in their 80s marrying an 8 year old has to be wrong on every level.

Our MEDIA and GOVERNMENT obviously support this child sex/marriage position of Saudi Arabia because I have never read a single article against it. Perhaps we should write to our MPs and to Nick Clegg/Cameron and ask them what their position is on Saudi Child Brides - because they have to have one.

If they dont condemn it completely then we should be very worried. In addition if they dont make representations to the Saudis to change their law then we should be very worried.

The DOUBLE STANDARDS of our Governments and Media are breathtaking. We are happy to treat Saudi Arabia as an equal in the GLOBAL ECONOMY - they wish to be treated as an equal. They therefore need to at least follow HUMAN RIGHTS laws for children in my view./

In addition countries where there is no age of consent that encourages sex tourism should have 13 as their bottom age for sexual consent and the UN should work hard to implement this in the Third World to stop the exploitation of children.

veritas wrote:
you are entirely correct BR but we must never upset the Saudis.

That's right, veritas .... B-Liar even stopped a Serious Fraud Squad investigation into corruption and bribery a couple of years ago when it seemed that they may get a result !

You can't criticise the piper .......... !