Every child has the right to a future Every Last Girl: Free to live, free to learn, free from harm
Abrar Hassan
Founder Humanity social welfare society
E-mail abrar05888@gmail.com
Child marriage is an extreme violation of children’s rights and a serious form of child abuse.It robs girls of their agency, their childhood, their wellbeing and their potential. Being married too young forces girls into physical and emotional relationships they are not ready for, that they have not chosen, and that they have little control over. It is an act of gender-based violence that isolates girls and exposes them to physical, sexual and emotional abuse and the risks associated with early pregnancy and childbirth.tragic child marriage statisticsAbout 40 million girls ages 15-19 are currently married or in a union worldwide.Each year,some 12 million more girls will marry before reaching age 18 – and of those, 4 million are under age 15.By 2030, it’s estimated that 150 million girls will lose their childhoods due to child marriage.
What are the effects of child marraige?
Early marriage has devastating consequences for a girl’s life. Effectively, child marriage ends her childhood. Girls are forced into adulthood before they is physically and mentally ready. Child brides are frequently deprived of their rights to health, education, safety and participation. What’s more, an arranged marriage often means a girl is forced to wed an, at times significantly, older man.Girls married young are far less likely to stay in school, with lifelong economic impacts. They are often isolated, with their freedom curtailed. They are at higher risk of physical and sexual violence. Child brides are also at greater risk of experiencing dangerous complications in pregnancy and childbirth, contracting HIV/AIDS and suffering domestic violence.
WHAT’S NEEDED AND WHY
MY RESEARCH
Addressing barriers to education and causes of school dropout requires interventions that respond to many of the same inequalities that incentivise child marriage.These inequalities include social norms that reinforce and are reinforced by gender inequality, poverty, the risk of violence, and inadequate healthcare, nutrition, water and sanitation. Reducing child marriage will also bring countries closer to achieving universal secondary education.
To attend and complete their schooling, girls need the right foundations for learning. Girls must be safe, well-nourished and in good health in order to learn. Education interventions should work in cooperation with health and nutrition services that keep girls well enough to attend school and participate effectively in class. Structural barriers such as poverty, as well as laws, social norms and risks that limit girls’ freedom of movement must also be addressed – public safety programming and justice sector engagement are essential to ensure that girls are safe on the way to and in school. All girls must have access to quality primary and secondary education. This requires an end to the suspension and expulsion of girls who become pregnant and options to support ongoing education, catch-up and return to school by girls who have had babies.Education interventions should promote targets for adolescent covering comprehensive sexuality education, gender equality and human rights.Schools should be an empowering space for girls.Schools must offer better long- and short-term opportunities for girls than early dropout. Schools must be supported to deliver good-quality education that improves girls’ economic independence by feeding into relevant livelihood opportunities and empowering them to participate in their communities. This must be supported by social norm change. Gender norms need to shift, to value girls and their education, and to prevent early removal from school for child marriage or to take on carer responsibilities that often fall to daughters due to lack of social protection and support services. Success in all of these areas requires a multisectoral response. The justice, education, health, finance and welfare sectors, along with community, religious and political leaders, civil society, international actors and child advocates, must all be engaged.
