No sanctuary for Syria's female refugees

Feet stumbling in the pitch darkness over the uneven ground we make our way with a group of women to one of the bathrooms in the Zaatari camp. "There is no light, if we come in here there could be a guy hiding or something." one woman says. None of them want to be identified. They carry fear of the regime with them, even as they seek refuge across the border in Jordan. But "safety" is a relative term. For Syria's female refugee population, it has meant trading fear of death in their homeland for fear ofsomething many consider to be worse: rape. There have been various stories of sexual harassment and rape in Zaatari camp -- teeming withmasses who continue to stream across the border. This dark underbelly of crisis has led to a disturbinggrowing phenomenon: "sutra" marriages, or marriages for protection. Families who feel like they are unable to safeguard their female family members,their daughters, are marrying them off to protect them. In a culture where conserving honor is central,everyone says they had no other choice. In one trailer we meet 13-year-old Najwa. She curls back in the corner next to her husband, 19-year-old Khaled, and her mother, hardly saying a word. Najwa is the youngest of three, her two older sisters in their late teens are also recently married.source: CNN