Real life stories

Nazmie, a 12-year-old Roma girl from Korca, in Albania, believed Stephan when he promised to love and care for her. She had just dropped out of school and was working in a cigarette factory. When Stephan, who was 29, suggested that they move abroad to look for a better life, she married him.

© UNICEF/HQ99-0193/Chalasani

Two refugee boys from Kosovo rest against the car that brought them to the northern border town of Kukes in Albania.

Three months after their wedding, the couple travelled to Italy. Then Stephan announced that he wanted Nazmie to work on the street as a prostitute. "I didn't know what 'prostitution' meant," says Nazmie, now 15. "I thought it was only a job. I didn't know what kind of job it was."

Nazmie's husband became her pimp. "I worked morning till night every day," Nazmie recalls. She had to earn the equivalent of US$250 per night, which meant she had to have about 10 ‘clients’ [exploiters] a night. "If I didn't earn that money, he would beat me," she says.

Nazmie thought her nightmare was over when she was arrested by the Italian police. They sent her back to Albania. But as soon as she arrived, her brother-in-law put her on a speedboat back to Italy. This happened three times.

The fourth time Nazmie was sent back her luck changed. She was picked up by a local non-governmental organization (NGO), who persuaded her family not to send her back to her husband.

Nazmie is now taking classes through the mail in a programme run by the NGO and sponsored by UNICEF. She is learning hairdressing and sewing, and hopes to get her high-school diploma. Eventually, Nazmie says, she would like to work in a clothing factory.

Note: Child marriage reduces girls' opportunities to get an education, to move about freely, to receive the support they need, and to have control over  decisions affecting their lives; child marriage greatly increases the vulnerability of girls to abuse, exploitation and violence.