Child Marriage And The United Nations Human Rights

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.

Child marriage in the States is a serious problem. The current law for child marriage states that you must be at least eighteen years old to marry. However, state laws make exceptions if minors have parental consent. Due to the lack of awareness in this topic thirty-three states and two counties in the U.S. reported that between 2000-2015 there were a total of 170,363 minors that were married. Of which, six were twelve-year-olds, fifty-one were thirteen-year-olds, nine hundred eighty-five was fourteen years old. Not only is this number increasing but it is also alarming. The main reasons for child marriage are poverty, gender inequality, tradition/culture, education, and insecurity. Most of the child marriages happen in rural or backward areas of the country. The main reason for this is poverty for sure. Parents who have a daughter but don't earn as much choose this method to give them a better life. For the boys, the marriage does not take place but poverty triggers child labor. Another main reason behind this activity is gender inequality. Even today there are lots of countries that consider

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

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.

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

In Afghan society, a forced marriage is when either the man or women is married against one’s will. This includes childhood brides and young women who are sold from their family in order to pay off debt. Adolescents that are forced into marriages in Afghanistan are consistently mistreated and abused in their households. In the article “Afghanistan: Women, Socially Bound

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”.

Some of these arranged marriages are assigned at one’s birth with the girl (future woman) having absolutely no say on the matter. When viewing the photographs from NPR, Photographers Capture The Sorrow And Pain Of Global Girls, we see the first image of a 13-year-old Syrian girl being prepared to be married. In the girl's culture, it is seen as bad fortune if a girl “of age” dies without a husband. Due to harsh times and the fear of death, the family of the girl decides that their daughter is old enough to be married. Throughout this ordeal, it is possible that the girl detested the idea of marriage and was forced, or because it is a custom in their culture, it was normal to get married young. Being married at a young age relinquishes one's childhood and forced to assimilate into the role of a wife, this personifies the image that in these cultures a woman is not equal and instead of a minority within society. They are seen as less than men to the point where it is justifiable to beat women (Story Map/ Women’s Rights). On the Story Map website, one can see that mostly in Africa and middle-eastern countries it is reasonable to assault a woman. Assaulting men is a crime, which can lead to death, but ok if it happens to women. From being stripped of childhood at a young age to allowing the assault to occur, women are minorities in a majority of cultures around the

child bride face a high risk of domestic violence after marriage. Young girls with low level of education often experience violence by an intimate partner. Because of the age difference between girls are their husband, a young girl will stay struggling to understand her own anatomy. In addition, she is forced to make conjugal relations and show signs of depression and stress owing to sexual abuse by her older partner. As a result, young girls are at a higher risk of contracting HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases from her older man with more sexual encounters. Researchers have found that girls married before 18 are twice as likely to be beaten, slapped, or threatened and three times more likely to be raped by their husbands than those

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.

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) states that children have the right to

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.

The practice of marrying minors can be found globally, however it is found to be most concentrated in the poor rural and provincial areas of Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America. According to GirlNotBrides.org, “India has the highest (absolute) number of child brides in the world. It is estimated that 47% of girls in India are married before their 18th birthday”. They also stated, “Niger has the highest rate of child marriage in the world. Every 3 in 4 girls marry before their 18th birthday.”

Today the idea of arranged marriages is overlooked as a forced marriage from other society's point of views. Hindus arrange their children to meet partners they think are well suitable for them but this does not mean the son or daughter has to automatically marry this person they have been introduced to. They have a choice whether to go along with it or not. They are not forced at any point to marry this person. Years ago parents arranged their children marriages while their children were very young and even babies. They understood that if the kids grew up together over the years they will learn everything there was to know about each other and so everything will basically work out to their advantage. Even though the girl was practically married at a very young age she did not have to live with her husband until she was matured, until then she will just visit him and his family. The wedding will occur before puberty, so the girl will

Child marriage has been a popular situation in India, which leads to so many children losing their childhood and becoming an adult to fast. A child shouldn’t be married off before they become women because they grow up to fast and forget how to be child and become a woman with lot of responsible to handle before reaching the age 18-year. When a child get marriage at a young age they 're not beneficial form anything that is happen them it 's just hurting them. Being married so young limit their opportunities and early marriages can lead to numerous medical and psychological problems, particularly in relation to early child-births where the mother is not physically mature.