A/HRC/21/41 on to another member of the tribe. A girl or woman dishonours her family and tribe if her body is violated, even by force, and the shame can be cleansed only through her death. 46. Family status depends on honour. In patriarchal and patrilineal societies, maintaining the honour of the family is a woman’s responsibility. The concept of women as commodities and not as human beings endowed with dignity and rights equal to those of men is deeply embedded in these societies. Women are seen as the property of men and must be obedient and passive, rather than assertive and active. Any assertive behaviour is considered to be an element that would result in an imbalance of power relations within the parameters of the family unit (E/CN.4/2002/83, para. 27). UNICEF reports that in some countries, early marriages are regarded by families as a means of protecting girls from premarital sex that would undermine their honour and that of their families.3 47. Honour-related killings are practised by some communities in their countries of origin or in the countries to which they have immigrated. Honour-related killings occur in Asia, the Middle East and Europe, where first-generation immigrants have passed the practice on to their children and grandchildren. Among some Asian communities, to guard the honour of a clan, marriages take place within the biradari system, a social caste system that divides people into separate communities and combines caste and honour with notions of total loyalty to the clan. 48. Reports also indicate that relentless pressure and emotional blackmail are used by parents and families to force young girls into unwanted marriages. More extreme forms of pressure can involve threatening behaviour, abduction, imprisonment, physical violence, rape and, in some cases, murder. C. Poverty 49. Studies show that servile marriage is most common in poor households. A UNICEF study shows that a girl from the poorest household is three times more likely to marry than a girl from the richest household.1 A United Nations Population Fund study on adolescents shows that, in Nigeria, 80 per cent of the poorest girls marry before the age of 18, compared to 22 per cent of the richest girls.4 50. It is important to note that the payment of a dowry or bride price does not mean that a woman ends up in a servile marriage. In this context, it is the non-consensual nature of the marriage that is the abuse, not the payment. In some countries, however, a bride price does in fact translate into men feeling that they own their wives. 51. In some cases, the parents force a bride into a servile marriage to improve their economic situation or to pay off the family’s debts. A poor, rural family is more likely to force a female member into marriage for financial reasons rather than for cultural and religious reasons. The payment may be made in cash or in kind to the woman’s family, guardian or any other person or group. In such instances, the bride’s family forces her to remain in a servile marriage because returning to her home would mean that her family would have to repay the bride price to her husband or her husband’s family. 52. In situations in which a bride has been forced into marriage because of a debt, it is often impossible for her family to repay the bride price. For example, where brides are victims of physical, psychological or sexual violence, their nuclear families will not take them back because they would need to repay the bride price. 3 4 10 UNICEF, “Early Marriage: Child Spouses”, Innocenti Digest, vol. 7 (March 2001), Innocenti Research Centre, Florence, Italy. The State of the World Population 2003: Making 1 Billion Count – Investing in Adolescents’ Health and Rights (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.03.III.H.1).