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Turkish Lawmakers To Introduce “Marry Your Rapist Bill” In Parliament

Lawmakers in Turkey are to introduce the marry your rapist bill in the parliament in the last week of January.

The controversial bill has sparked fury among women and human rights campaigners in the country.

The law will allow men accused of having sex with girls who are under 18 to avoid punishment if they marry their victims.

In 2016, a similar bill was scrapped after global and national outrage was seen.

United Nations agencies warned the bill is going to generate a landscape of impunity for child abuse and leave victims vulnerable to experiencing additional mistreatment and distress from the rapists.

The legal age of consent in Turkey is 18, but a government report published in 2018 said child marriage estimates a total of 482,908 girls were married to older men in the last decade.

According to the United Nations, 38 percent of Turkish Women have suffered physical or sexual violence from a partner.

In 2017, it is estimated that 409 women were murdered by their partner or their family member in Turkey.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey, said treating women and men in equality is against nature.

During a summit in Istanbul back in 2014, Erdogan said, “You cannot put women and men on an equal footing. It is against nature.”

President Erdogan said women should have at least 3 children.

He also said that a woman’s life is incomplete if she did not reproduce.