Child Marriage And The United Nations Human Rights

“GIRLS NOT BRIDES IS A GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP OF MORE THAN 600 CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS COMMITTED TO ENDING CHILD MARRIAGE AND ENABLING GIRLS TO FULFIL THEIR POTENTIAL.” (brides, 2016)This NGO is trying to help prevent children from having to marry. A child bride is defined as a girl who is married or in a union before the age of 18 years. One of the countries with the highest rates of child brides is Niger at 78 percent of females reporting by population being married before the age of 18 years. India has he highest number of child brides at 10,063,000 girls married before the age of 18 years.

According to UNICEF 48% of women in South Asia are forced to marry before they turn 18. These teenage brides do not give their consent for their marriage their human rights are taking away from them and they are treated like an object. An arranged marriage is when the family of both children agree that they should be taking a lead role in marriage, but the couple have agreed to do so. A forced marriage is when families decide that their child should be married to someone for their own benefit for example money to help the rest of their family, the child in which is married off has giving to consent to her or his family or to the person whom they are about to spend the rest of their life

In South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, forty percent of women are married before their 18th birthday. The women don’t have the right to choice their husbands. Now in Pakistan, women’s marriages are arranged. The women are expected to accept this arrangement. If any women were to refuse their marriage

According to the United Nations Children’s Fund, child marriages, marriages where at least one of the parties is under the age of 18, began when mothers and families started to force their teenage daughters into marriage at an early age to prevent them from rape as well as to secure a safe economic future for their daughters (Child Marriage and the Law, 1). This issue is very prevalent in countries such as Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East. Niger, being the most prevalent country, is reported to have “every three in four girls married before their 18th birthday” (Where Does It Happen, Girls Not Brides). In addition to this heavy statistic, Girls Not Brides also reports that globally “more than 30% of today’s women were married before their 18th

Child marriages can have devastating consequences for girls.Child brides are more likely than unmarried girls to die younger,suffer from health problems, live in poverty,and being uneducated.Neither is physically or emotionally ready for gives birth, child bride faces a higher risk of death in childbirth and might suffer from many pregnancy-related injuries.Mortality rates for babies who born to mothers under 20 are higher than for children born to older mothers.The children that survived are more likely at risk to contracting HIV/AIDS, have a low birthweight, and more likely to develop disability.Child brides are often pulled out school and refuse to get them any further education.Their children are also more likely to be uneducated like their mothers. Child brides are poor and more likely to remain poor because they are isolated and denied them to get any

Most girls dream of their wedding from a very young age, from meticulously planning each detail to fantasizing about walking down the aisle. But, for many girls across the world, their wedding day is something to dread. In many cases, these girls are forced to marry men much older than themselves, sometimes even by three or four decades. The International Center for Research on Women defines child marriage as, “a formal marriage or informal union before age 18” (np), and although rarely mentioned, child marriage is a growing problem worldwide. The United Nations Populations Fund states, “In developing countries, one in every three girls is married before reaching age 18. One in nine is married under age 15” (unfpa.org). Young brides who are put in this terrible situation face tremendous mental and physical risks and often die from the abuse they receive from their husband. The following paper will highlight the oppression young brides face including first hand stories, female genital mutilation, and health consequences across the Middle East and Eastern Asia.

Kingston, many girls are forced into marriages by being told it is the right thing to do. In summary, underage arranged marriages are very dangerous and unfair to the children who are placed under those circumstances while they haven’t even reached the capacity to comprehend what they want.

Almost 60% of girls are married by 16. Women activists say up to 80 percent of marriages in poor rural areas are either forced or arranged.

Rena Silverman, in his article Millions of Young Girls Forced into Marriage wrote that “Driven largely by ……….family members”. The physical and emotional consequences can be very fatal. Since some decade, people give their daughter in forced marriage, when they are generally poor. This being the Dot is a tradition in a marriage will make the fiancée 's family meet its needs. Forced marriage is to be married for the cattle, food or money, also, for the transmission of belongings. After the husband death, the son of the legal wife will inherit of all his property; which will become her own. For this reason parents give their daughter in marriage to have money to stay alive. Yana T. Child marriage problem: causes and consequences said “Parents who cannot provide …………. to ensure she is supported”.

In the article, Child Marriages in Sub-Saharan Africa, states the reasons and crazy expectations of child marriages. In Sub-Saharan Africa 39% of girls are married before the age of 18. Child marriages has spread throughout all of Africa. In West and Central Africa 42% of girls are married before age 18 and in Eastern and Southern Africa it is 36% of the girls (Child Marriages in: Sub-Saharan Africa). These number vary throughout the year yet they never drop to zero. It is a mass dilemma to outsiders yet in the depth of Africa, it a tradition that is hard to break. Daughters may be married off due to poverty or fear of safety. It is a custom in which the daughter does not have much control and marriage can be used as a leverage in a heated

Child marriage is one of the major concerns when it comes to women in undeveloped countries. Many of them are married off at a very young age. Education gives a woman the power to make their own decisions and gives them an identity. By marrying of at a young age many are forced to start a family and live under someone else’s authority. Lack of education limits freedom and the basic knowledge of living which now

Poverty is cyclical and the best indicator if a child will end up in poverty is if her parents live in poverty. One common practices among families with girls living in poverty is child marriages. It has been found that poverty is the main driver of child marriage and traps girls and their families in a cycle of poverty (Poverty Girls). The practice of child marriage is more common in families who are already in poverty and perpetuates the cycle. In recent years, child marriage has gained increasing prominence on international and national development agendas. The issue of child marriage has been heavily criticized in India because of its continued practice after appropriate legislation has been passed against it. Child marriage has always been a common practice in India and has continued to flourish because of deep rooted social and cultural customs, illiteracy, poverty, inadequate education opportunities, inferior status of women in society, and poor law enforcement (Bhanderi).

Child brides are a little voiced problem that occur around the world. Fourteen million girls become child brides every year, a number that is increasing due to the growing populations of countries where child marriage is common (Fisher). I chose to focus on child brides specifically in Africa and the Middle East due to the high instances of child marriages in those parts of the world. In my research I also found that child brides are very common in South Asia and South America as well. In Niger, Chad, Mali, Bangladesh, Guinea, Central African Republic, Mozambique, and Nepal over half of girls are married before they turn eighteen (Fisher).This is largely due to traditional tribal practices, cultural norms, and an overall lack of education.

Girls all over the world are forced into marriages due to financial necessity, tradition and to ensure their future. Most of these girls married are at a young age: “One third of the world’s girls are married before the age of 18 and 1 in 9 are married before the age of 15”( “Child Marriage Facts and Figures”). The young ages of those being married reveal how crucial it is to resolve this problem. When child marriage occurs the parents of the bride usually chose the groom for their daughters; and these grooms can be three times older than the young brides. Some children are brought into the world of marriage at the of 8 or sometimes less depending on their cultural views. The following can be used to help reduce the impact of early

Cultural and socioeconomic factors that reinforce child marriage differ from region to region. Where one lives within a country may strongly influence whether or not she will marry early. In India the highest rates of child marriage is concentrated in five states: Madhya Pradesh at 73%, Andhra Pradesh at 71%, Rajasthan at 68%, Bihar at 67 % and Uttar Pradesh at 64%. The median age of marriage in India is 16.4 years according to the National Family Health Survey. [8]It also found that 65% of girls are married by the time they are 18. There are many reasons why child marriage occurs but they can be put into two general categories. The first one is based on social norms, customs and religion. Virginity in India is very important. If one is raped, it is hard for her to be married. “As Vatsayyana said a couple millennia ago that a virgin bride is important, even if people don’t talk about it openly”.[1] Therefore, the younger the bride the more likely it is that she’ll be a virgin and so marrying off the daughter as young as possible, the faster the end of the parent’s responsibility to keep her a virgin.