The thought of spending her life with a man she had never met was too much for Marie.
She was not even present when her family arranged for her to marry a stranger from a nearby village in northern Burkina Faso, and was never consulted about the union.
Desperate, the 20-year-old slipped out of her family home one night last month and walked for hours through the bush to the city of Kaya. Her target: a shelter run by nuns where she could carry on her neglected education. She ditched her phone's SIM card so her family couldn't reach her.
“It was my grandfather who wanted to give me in marriage and my parents said nothing,” said Marie, who did not want to use her real name. “They can't say anything because they can't disobey him,” she said, biting her nails.
Forced marriages are illegal in Burkina Faso, but they remain common and often involve girls younger than 18. In a poverty-stricken country facing mounting violence by Islamist militants, marrying off daughters means fewer mouths to feed. A bride price or a dowry can bring in much-needed cash or goods.
Yet such unions can lead to early pregnancy, interrupted education and abuse, say rights groups. The western Sahel region south of the Sahara Desert is one of the worst-affected parts of the world, the United Nations says.
According to Burkina Faso's government, there were over 650 cases of forced marriage and 2,200 child marriages between 2019 and 2021, though this is likely a undercount as many arrangements are carried out in secret.
