Top tip Click on the play button to stay on the website

As the year ends, many are understandably in the festive mood, celebrating another milestone in their human experience amongst their nearest and dearest. For others, it is their last year with families and often the final few weeks of enjoying the innocence of youth. The brutal neglected truth is that by this time next year, over 12 million girls will be married off before reaching 18, 4 million of those will be under the age of 15.

Some of those young children will often die in tragic circumstances.

And we are all compliant via our silence.

If a new year is meant to represent anything, hopefully it will be one of recognising the fragility of all life on this planet and making a conscious effort to make a dignified difference.

This week I am joined by Naila Amin, an activist and a child bride survivor. In this podcast she shares her harrowing experience and what drove her to make legal history in the USA. We cover issues of forced marriage, honour killings and the need for cultural change.

Aspects of this podcast can be disturbing for younger listeners.

About Naila Amin:

Naila is a 32-year-old student and activist. She was born in Pakistan and migrated with her family at the age of 4 to the USA.

At the tender age of 8 she was forcibly engaged to her first cousin who was 21. At the age of 15 and despite efforts of the US social services, she was sent to Pakistan and married against her will to her then 28-year-old husband. She suffered horrific life changing abuse including rape, torture, and psychological torment.

Her case made headlines as the U.S. Embassy intervened and the U.S. State department rescued her in early 2005. Subsequently she devoted her life to making institutional reforms to ensure young girls across the USA would never be forced into underage marriage. Her work paved the way for historic legal change in the country. In February of 2018 Naila started working with Assembly man Philip Ramos from Brentwood, New York. With the support of Naila he introduced the Bright Line Bill; which meant you must be 18 or over to marry within the state with no exceptions. The law was named – Naila’s law and since 2021 has protected young children within the state of New York.

Naila holds a degree in Human Services and is currently working on her Bachelors. She founded the Naila Amin Foundation at the age of 26 and plans on opening the first shelter in the U.S. to house girls escaping forced marriages and Honour-based violence.

She had a major influence in helping and campaigning for New Jersey to end child marriage and has lobbied federal legislation to help close the loopholes in the American Immigration system which puts children at risk everyday with the current laws.

Naila has appeared in several documentaries and continues to work daily to fulfil her dream of making America a safe place for young women.

Naila Amin is also our Global Indian Ambassador for child rights, based in the USA.

You can support the work Naila does here: (7) The Naila Amin Foundation | Facebook

About the Global Indian Series:

My name is Rajan Nazran Chief Explorer for the Global Indian Series, the official platform for people of Indian origin (PIO), because let’s face it, we are everywhere!

For almost 15 years we have travelled across the globe covering 58 countries to date whilst exploring the kaleidoscope of our remarkable 50 shades of brown community.

Voyaging to the edges of the Amazon, facing Ebola in West Africa, being held hostage in Eastern Europe, tapping rubber in Malaysia, drinking chai with Heads of State and sharing laughter with local fishermen – I have been there, looking for us!

Our purpose is simple, to build a living encyclopaedia of the human experience of the community and a safe mooring ground for open discussions, whether you are an NRI, Indian Diaspora, person of Indian origin (PIO) or a fan of South Asian anthropology, what we do is bring people and communities together.

We do this by plunging into the human experience of being a person of Indian origin (PIO), taking a second look at the countries we now call home and tackling the conversations we need to know more about.

Through our range of award-winning original content (print, podcasts, events and TV) and fascinating discussions, our impactful stories and platforms have spearheaded national and international conversations that have brought people together.  Our work is featured in global brands including The Indian Express through to the CNBC network.

How to get involved:

Interested in getting involved in building the world’s largest living encyclopedia on the community? Whether you want to become a patron, buy us a chai in a new location or have your story shown, simply get in touch via our website, we would love to hear from you. www.globalindianseries.com

Social media:

You can reach Rajan via

Instagram: @rajannazran

Linkedin: RajanNazran

YouTube: Global Indian Series

Special thank you to TAIZU for the music

Episode: 91

Presenter – Rajan Nazran

Producer –Global Indian Series/NazranRoth

Guests – Naila Amin

Other podcasts you may like:

If you liked this podcast, you may enjoy the following:

RETURNING FROM THE EDGE – MY BATTLE WITH ALCOHOLISM (globalindianseries.com)

JUDGED BY AUTISM | A FATHER’S JOURNEY: EP33 (globalindianseries.com)

POLYAMOROUS – REWRITING THE RULES | MADE IN THE USA WITH SUNNY, SPEETIE & PIDDU (globalindianseries.com)

Are you a global Indian that needs to go global?  You may be interested in our articles on citizenship by investment and global residency options, including Golden Visas. It’s a definitive guide for all global Indians to read on what you need to know and what you must avoid when looking to participate in investment migration and golden visa planning.

We produce content that inspires purpose, passion, and community. If you like what we do, please do share, like, subscribe and comment. It helps massively with online algorithms.

-------------------------------

Support change: A little favour to ask-We believe true freedom is to be able to act without fear or favour and that identity is not a “brand” to be abused, politicized, or reduced for personal gain. As Global Indians, the need to work together is greater now than ever before.  If we want to see real change, we need to create a better society for all, tackle injustice and plunge into the many aspects of what the human experience truly offers.The Global Indian Series has been built to be a platform of integrity, fairness and to remain fiercely independent of political influence. We are the first in the world to connect with every echelon of society with all human voices being treated equally.  We are the first to have travelled physically to locations far and wide, often putting our own lives on the line to bring forward stories that deserve to be told.  Whether it’s through our Podcast that delves into the human experience behind identity, our articles and features that cover key events we need to know, or live based events that tackle topical discussions, we have been there to support a better community and planet.Despite the high costs and time needed to maintain our work, we continue, because we know our work has helped more people understand what is happening within the communities across our planet, why it matters, and how, together, we can demand progress.  We challenge head-on, the silent divisions that have crept into our collective consciousness and how to tackle key issues that often go neglected in mainstream media.How you can help:Please share our work: By collaborating with others who share our values, our combined voices make change, with many more becoming inspired to take meaningful action.Subscribe to the platform:Many from across our community have decided to subscribe to our platform. It helps us grow which in turns attracts like-minded supporters. If you have not already, we would appreciate you subscribing to our newsletters and following our social media accounts. It is free and supports our journey.