Child marriage; big concern persists

Many children are forced to marry at the behest of some of the grown-ups.

They neither have the right of choice nor a clear picture of the future ahead. Sometimes due to ignorance or with fear and compulsion children give in to coercive marriages which are ensued by evil consequences.

Child marriage, due to lack of readiness for pregnancy and giving birth at young age, is a hot issue which has often been accompanied with unanswered questions. According to the recent reports published by the UN Human Rights deputy high commissioner, every day 39,000 girls are forced to get married without having the right to choose or even realizing the repercussions of this act till the end of their life. It is envisaged that by the year 2020, 142 million girls will be married under the age of 18.

Elina from Malawi who was forced to marry in childhood says: “My marriage made me face with many problems. I was a child and did not know how to play the role of a wife. Pregnancy was the worst time for me; for, I had to do the housework and work in the farm. These were very difficult for me since I was a child myself.

The reasons of child marriage differ in various societies. Homelessness, economic poverty, traditions and provision of security of girls are among some reasons for child marriage. Many poor families decide to marry their children in order to reduce the cost of one of the family members. In some societies, parents think that if they do not embark on early marriage of their children they will lose the chance of marriage forever.

In some societies, although there are schools for girls, poor educational quality and shortage of teacher cause both parents and children to feel that they waste time and money. Meanwhile some families oppose studying of girls as it deters them from working at home or at the houses of rich families. In societies like Southern Sudan, the groom gives an amount of his assets to the bride’s family. The assets include money, gold and even animals like cow.

Ayen says: “My husband gave 75 cows to my father. We had never got acquainted before marriage or even talked to each other. I didn’t know anything about marriage. When I told my father that I didn’t want to marry, he said you should marry since I need the cows.”

The Human Rights Watch studies in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Malawi, Nepal, Southern Sudan, Tanzania, Yemen and Zimbabwe show that child marriage can have evil chronic consequences. It can thoroughly deny girls their rights as human beings.

Child marriage all over the world has caused many problems. Endangering health, early pregnancy, violence against women at home and poverty are among the threats looming over the girls who marry at childhood. Studies across the world show that the incidence of death among the girls who become mothers at the age of 10 to 14 is four times more than those who become mothers at the age of 20 to 24. Preventing girls from education has a direct relation with their marriage at childhood. The girls who can study in Bangladesh are less willing to get married at childhood.

Children usually have little information about sexual health and dangers of diseases. On the basis of 2013 figure, 74% of the cases of AIDS among African girls are related to the children who have experienced sexual ailments due to lack of information.

Domestic violence is among other harms of child marriage. Such children face with broad physical, sexual, spiritual and psychological violence. Research shows that domestic violence is rather more between the men and women who have big age gap. HRW has declared that in view of the issue there is a basic question as why the constraint of child marriage still continues among girls. Bangladesh ranks 4th among the countries in which child marriage is rampant.

Niger, Central Africa and Chad are placed above Bangladesh. According to the UNICEF, during the years of 2005 to 2013, 29% of Bangladeshi girls got married under the age of 15 and 65% got married under the age of 18.

Several factors are responsible for the marriage of young girls in Bangladesh. Gender discrimination, social approaches, traditions have caused problems for girls; hence leading them to marry at childhood. Widespread poverty in families forces many parents to marry their daughters at childhood due to lack of their access to food and education. Bangladesh is one of the countries which are severely subjected to natural disasters. This has created pitiable situation for the citizens especially those who live in the marginal regions.

HRW has interviewed many of Bangladeshi families regarding marriage of their children. Many of them have mentioned poverty as the main cause of child marriage. Many families say: “We could not send our daughters to school and in order to have a better future we force them to marry at childhood.”

Gender discrimination and traditions in Bangladesh have created the belief that boys are the source of income for the family in the future while girls are only consumers and after marriage they will turn into active persons in the husband’s family. With this viewpoint, poor families prefer to force their daughters to marry at childhood.

In an interview with HRW, one Bangladeshi citizen said, “The flood destroyed our house and after that we decided to marry our daughter to reduce our problems.” In November 2014, the UN issued a resolution calling on all member states to prohibit child marriage and approve required laws for punishing the transgressors. The UN General Assembly’s Human Rights Committee, endorsing the resolution, called on all states to take serious steps for stopping child marriage.

Child marriage is a complicated and widely different problem all over the world. Nonetheless, governments vow to eradicate child marriage by 2030 for gaining access to sustainable objectives.

For sure, materialization of this task requires governments to adopt a comprehensive tendency in proportion to the local conditions and various social communities.

Although the rate of child marriage in some parts has decreased, according to the report of civil groups in some countries like Syria and Jordan is on the rise. So implementation of national rights’ framework is a key solution.

FK/RM/ME