Early marriage figures for Iraq are startling. Child advocates worry it could rise even more.

“My father is a contractor who went bankrupt,” explained 22-year-old Ismail, who is from Baghdad. “We went to live in my uncle’s home. His wife suggested that it would be smart for me to marry her brother.” “Dad felt this marriage was a way to show his gratitude to that family — it was his way to pay back the favor. I was only 13, while he was 30,” Ismail said, adding that her relatives at the time gave her cold comfort about her imminent wedding night. “On the day when the sheikh came to make the marriage, I cried a lot and loudly. They were just laughing and saying, ‘What’s wrong, he will not take you right now.’”