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Case registered in displaced persons camp in Yemen shows how hunger, war, and assistance criteria can increase risks for girls. Report published by Devex involves family dependent on humanitarian aid and reignites debate on child protection in prolonged crisis contexts.
A father displaced by the war in Yemen claimed to have married off his 13-year-old daughter because he could not feed a family of 11, in a case that exposes the vulnerability of girls in areas affected by conflict, hunger, and dependence on humanitarian aid.
The report involves Said Ali, a pseudonym used by Devex, and his daughter Fatima, who lived with the family in the Al-Malika displaced persons camp in the rural area of Taiz.
Published on April 2, 2026, the report describes how assistance distribution rules can have unforeseen effects when applied in communities without income, stable shelter, or sufficient social protection.
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Assistance per family becomes point of alert
According to Devex, observers interviewed during the investigation claim that aid programs based on family units may have, in some cases, encouraged the formation of new households through the marriage of underage girls.
The explanation presented by these observers is that a new home could expand access to money, food, or essential items in places where displaced families rely on external support for basic needs.
This assessment does not attribute the promotion of child marriage to humanitarian organizations but points to possible indirect effects of rules applied in contexts of hunger, displacement, and low social protection availability.
The point raised by the report is in the design of the criteria, as families under extreme pressure may interpret administrative norms as a way to obtain more resources to survive in displaced persons camps.
In the reported case, Said depended on assistance to support the family and received support from humanitarian organizations, including cash transfers, food, and household furniture, according to Devex.
In communities affected by war, these resources may cease to be merely supplementary and start influencing domestic decisions related to food, housing, and family reorganization.
Speaking to Devex, Said said he felt ashamed discussing his daughter’s marriage but presented hunger and the responsibility for 11 people as justification for the decision.
“I am responsible for 11 people in this family. I had to marry her off to help feed all of us,” he stated, according to the publication.
Prolonged war pressures families in Yemen
Yemen faces a humanitarian crisis associated with years of conflict, economic collapse, internal displacement, and difficulty accessing basic services, according to data and reports from international organizations.
In 2026, the UN and its partners estimate a need of US$ 2.16 billion to reach 12 million people in the country, as part of the organized humanitarian response for the period.
The extent of the crisis helps to contextualize why family decisions occur under strong economic and social pressure, especially in areas where regular income has disappeared or become insufficient.
Data gathered by the humanitarian system indicate that the country entered 2026 with more than 22 million people needing assistance and protection, including women, children, and displaced families.
Between January 1 and May 30, 2026, the International Organization for Migration recorded at least 1,085 families displaced again in Yemen, equivalent to 6,510 people who had to flee during the monitored period.
In 2025, the agency had tracked 4,637 episodes of new family displacements, a figure that helps to gauge the persistence of forced mobility in the country.
In this scenario, girls may be more exposed to family arrangements that reduce expenses, transfer responsibilities, or pave the way for some type of material support.
The combination of hunger, loss of income, and withdrawal from school creates an environment where decisions about child protection are made amid immediate survival needs.
Child marriage affects girls out of school
In the report, child marriage appears as a result of overlapping factors, not as a decision explained solely by an individual case or an isolated family practice.
When war affects income, school, health, and community protection networks, school-aged girls are more subject to agreements made within the domestic environment.
UNICEF states that girls at greater risk of child marriage are often among the hardest to reach, especially when they live in poor families, marginalized communities, or rural areas.
The agency also associates the practice with school withdrawal, isolation, and impacts on the health and future prospects of these adolescents.
In Yemen, this risk adds to the dependency on external aid, especially in camps and improvised settlements where the lack of regular income reduces the families’ margin of choice.
Assistance programs, in turn, need to define who receives support, how much they receive, and what criteria will be used in environments marked by urgency, insecurity, and lack of complete data.
Humanitarian protection experts argue that the delivery of resources should be accompanied by social analysis, precisely to reduce indirect risks to children, adolescents, and other vulnerable groups.
The amount of food, money, or goods distributed is part of the response, but the way beneficiaries are registered can also influence behaviors within families.
Aid criteria require care
The discussion raised by Fatima’s case focuses on how aid is organized and how certain criteria can be interpreted by families under extreme pressure.
When aid is defined by household, rather than by individual vulnerability or detailed family composition, families may see practical advantages in forming new households.
According to Devex, observers have identified this risk in the Al-Malika camp and in other displacement contexts in Yemen, where basic resources remain scarce.
The creation of a new family unit, under this type of rule, could be interpreted as a way to gain additional access to essential items, such as food, money, or household goods.
Humanitarian programs operate in urgent environments, with limitations on access, budget, and security, factors that can restrict the ability to monitor all social effects of the measures.
Even so, the case shows, according to the analysis presented in the report, that assistance needs to consider indirect impacts on vulnerable groups, especially girls outside formal protection networks.
Organizations like UNICEF and UNFPA treat child marriage in emergencies as a problem that requires prevention, monitoring of adolescents, and coordination between education, health, social assistance, and protection.
The account of Said and Fatima presents a tension in the humanitarian response in Yemen: ensuring support to families in hunger situations without increasing risks for children and adolescents.
In areas of prolonged displacement, the effectiveness of aid also depends on the ability to identify who may be harmed by administrative rules applied uniformly.
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