➡ From Child Welfare Information Gateway NJ:
Pakistan: Crack down on men trading young daughters to settle debts and disputes
Public Radio International – May 15, 2017
The sentence ordered by the council was one of the hundreds of incidents known as vani that are estimated to occur annually in central Pakistan. Also known as swara and sangchatti, the 400-year-old custom involves fathers offering girls as young as 1 for arranged marriages to repay debts and settle tribal feuds and vendettas. Human rights workers are concerned that the practice of vani is on the rise – an assessment based on local police records, regional media reports and direct work with victims. But there’s hope that a new civil mediation system approved this year by the Pakistani government could help.
https://www.pri.org/stories/2017-05-15/pakistan-cracks-down-men-trading-young-daughters-settle-debts-and-disputes