31/05/2014 Reporters

macro `` that was The Papers. Coming up next, more on the race in which

three people were killed in the Scottish Borders.

Welcome to Reporters. From here, in the world's newsroom, we send out

reporters across the world. Tonight, Fergal Keane reports on child brides

in Niger. TRANSLATION: One night he locked me in the bedroom, it was as

if he raped me. Jeremy Bowen accompanies the Pope as

he tries to mediate with Israelis and Palestinians.

And we find out why the Japanese are turning their backs on sumo

wrestling. Sumo wrestling has existed for well

over a thousand years but now Japan's iconic sport is in deep

trouble. It is a country where many girls see

little of their childhood. Niger has one of the highest rates of child

marriage in the world. It is a phenomenon rooted in poverty and

also highlights the overall low picture of women in one of the

world's least developed nations. The UN has tried to provide more help

the girls but they face religious opposition.

In this land all choice is defined by the demand for survival. Niger is

the world's least developed nation with a highest birth rate and the

price fetched by a young bride can transform the life of her family.

The bride price is part of African custom. These nomads said that as

well as locals wealthy Nigerians were now offering big money for

beautiful girls. TRANSLATION: In our view it is not a

good thing. It is like a business. A girl can fetch thousands of pounds

depending on her beauty. Mina has no job, is separated from her husband

and has a 15`year`old boat. She says it is her daughter's choice but she

would welcome a wealthy husband. Many families do not have the

choice. If somebody wants to marry her by giving millions, even if she

is young. The legal age of marriage is 15 and nearly a quarter of girls

are married by then. Childhood vanishes. For this girl there was

the trauma of having to have `` have sex at age 13. TRANSLATION: I did

not think it was about marrying someone I would be happy with. I was

very young and did not have anybody to whom I could go for advice. He

was always trying to make it clear that it was as if he had bought me,

it was not because I wanted him but because I had bought `` he had

bought me. He mistreated me at home. One day he locked me in the bedroom.

He... It is as if he raped me. For child brides there can also be

traumatic medical consequences, young bodies damaged because they

are not ready to give birth. This is a treatment centre for fistula. This

girl was married at 14, this girl at 12. This girl at 15. Economic

desperation is driving the decisions of many families but there is in

this society a long tradition of such marriages. There is not the

taboo that exists nowadays in the West. Or so, religious leaders here

are giving explicit encouragement to child marriage. `` also. The

government, encouraged by the UN, have tried to provide more

protection but face religious opposition. At this Koranic school

the sheik insists that Islam allows child marriage.

TRANSLATION: It depends on the body of the girl and the man's body. If

the two are mature the marriage can be OK because in the Islamic

tradition even at nine girl can get married. I don't doubt your

religious views but to a great many people it sounds like you are making

excuses for child abuse. This is not what I mean. I told you, there are

rules to follow. If you followed the Islamic rules we will never have

this kind of problem. Such hope as there is comes from

education and the example set by individuals, like this girl,

followed into marriage `` forced into marriage and sex at just 13.

Now she is studying, hoping to change her world.

Can the Pope build bridges between Israelis and Palestinians where many

others have failed? This week he toured the Middle East in an attempt

to mediate. He visited some of the most important site for Muslims and

Jews and urged people of all faiths to work together. Jeremy Bowen

followed the Pope on the final day of his historic visit.

Taking shoes on and off when you visit an Islamic building is a

conventional signed `` sign of respect but when the Pope does it at

the Dome of the Rock it is more than that, and every day of this trip he

has made carefully calibrated gestures to deliver messages. At the

Western Wall, the holiest place in the world where Jews can pray, he

touched the Stones, placing his own prayer between them. 24 hours

earlier the Pope chose the same symbolic gesture at the barrier

Israel has built to sell `` separate Bethlehem from to Riessle. The

Palestinians hope that as what they saw as his silent statement on what

they call the apartheid wall. Then he went to a memorial to the

Holocaust. We have saved thousands because we

have this wall. There is no terrorism any more.

The Pope reached out, the same gesture he had used at the other two

walls. It did more than most visiting leaders to show the

Palestinians that he believes in their case for independence. Now he

has to show the Israelis that he takes their concerns equally

seriously or his attempt at mediation will have no chance at

all. The Pope's invitation to come to Rome to pray for peace has been

accepted by the Israeli and Palestinian presidents. Gestures

will not end the conflict but they can change the atmosphere, which at

the moment would be more than anybody else has managed.

Think of sumo and you think of Japan, but if you are Japanese sumo

is apparently the last thing on your mind. The traditional art seems to

be losing its charm for the Japanese so the sport has gone further afield

for talent, as far afield as Mongolia, Hawaii and Russia.

Nothing about sumo is modern. These are the same moves they have been

doing here for hundreds of years. However, it it may look, this is

hard. The temperature is just above freezing but the sweat glistening is

of the wrestlers' bodies. `` glistens off. This man has come to

train from Hawaii. The man shouting at him is his uncle, once a grand

champion and one of the most famous sumo wrestlers in Japan. Sumo has

existed for well over 1000 years and now Japan's most iconic sport is in

deep trouble, with audiences falling and a lack of young men who want to

take on this gruelling existence. After training it is time to cook.

This is the rich stew or wrestlers eat to keep their weight up and they

have to eat a lot. `` or wrestlers. 20 years ago sumo is dominated

Japanese wrestlers but now all of top wrestlers are foreign. There has

not been a Japanese champion in over ten years. I think that is a

problem. The wrestlers from outside are more hungry than the Japanese

wrestlers, that is it. Sumo is not so much a sport as a priesthood but

this life requires a level of commitment few Japanese men are

willing to make. That is all from Reporters for this

week. From me, Tim Willcox, and the team, goodbye for now.

Helen Spey in Northern Ireland had today's highest