Next month the British Prime Minister David Cameron will attend the Commonwealth Head of Government Meeting. Many heads of state attending represent countries where child marriage is common and still a big problem. Based on current data an astonishing 142 million girls will be married over the next decade ending 2020.
“The British government has rightly been outspoken about the growing problem of violence against women in conflict. Being married before your eighteenth birthday, often to someone very much older, is another form of violence.” David Thomson, Head of Policy at World Vision UK, said
Since the world recently celebrated International Day of the Girl it is important we begin ensuring that child marriages become a thing of the past and is at the forefront of the conversation.
Child marriage is a worldwide problem that cuts across countries, cultures, religions and ethnicities. According to research from World Vision, education is important in delaying the age of marriage for children. World Vision says that in emergency environments which are fragile, parents genuinely believe early marriage is the best way to protect their daughters. The only alternative available is access to safe education.
Many families use child marriage in conflict areas to protect daughters, and children are married when those daughters no longer have safe access to education. In places such as Somaliland and Niger this is usually at the end of primary school between the ages of 10 to 15.
Early marriage is a structural from of violence because it produces low levels of education which means a reduced economic status for the girls who are the subject of this violence.
Many parents feel anxiety about the sexual security of their daughters which means that girls who are no longer in school are likely to be forced into marriages to prevent so called immoral behaviour in cultures where pre marital sex is considered shameful.
“You will be insulted as a girl if you are not in school and you are not married. People will think you have a bad character.” (16 year old girl, Niger)
In Somaliland parents and daughters alike said the threat of sexual violence and rape is heightened by food scarcity and drought. Girls who had to walk to school were at particular risk. Many families have been forced to move away from villages to better grazing grounds in response to drought. This means girls were no longer able to school accompanied by their friends and the risk of sexual violence was much higher.
Image Courtesy of World Vision
