Child Marriage an issue of concern in the developing world

The definition of child and the age limit might be defined by the legal system of the country but the human rights of basic standards and living has been equally defined for all. Today with so much of technological development and cooperation child Marriage has been one of the major problems of the developing world. Millions and billions have been poured in for the proper awareness and capacity building but it's one of the hurdles that comes-up every now and then.

The problem is not just with the issue of Child-Marriage but the values and ideologies associated with it. Child Marriage is an issue which is culturally inspired in many ways of the least developed and developing countries where there are issues of poverty and hunger. In most of these countries these issues are ignored in view of larger problem that shadows the core issues. In most of the case lack of an adequate legislative framework results in high number of child marriage. While many countries legislate have adopted the minimum legal age for marriage, this is often not effectively enforced at the local level due to lack of monitoring.  Similarly, lack of standardization of customary laws that may condone the practice of child marriage where they are prone to violence and sexual abuse. Child marriage is generally more prevalent in jurisdictions that offer fewer
protections for women and girls.  


The major problems of child marriage are

1. Religious and cultural values 
2. Poverty and hunger 
3. Modern day Slavery Industry 
4. Lack of awareness and communication 
5. Lack of Rules and regulation 
6. Lack of monitoring mechanism 
7. Lack of capacity building  
8. Lack of research and cooperation (Consultant and experts) 
9. Donor agencies sub-standard values  
10. Orthodox and prejudices values related to woman 
11. Limitation of Development plans and policies 
12. Report mentality of development agencies 
13. Lack of Gender Equality values

The International Center for Research on Women ( ICRW) states, " One third of girls in the developing world are married before the age of 18 and 1 in 9 are married before the age of 15. In 2012, 70 million women 20-24 around the world had been married before the age of 18. If present trends continue, 150 million girls will be married before their 18th birthday over the next decade. That’s an average of 15 million girls each year. While countries with the highest prevalence of child marriage are concentrated in Western and Sub-Saharan Africa, due to population size, the largest number of child brides reside in South Asia. Girls living in poor households are almost twice as likely to marry before 18 than girls in higher income households. More than half of the girls in Bangladesh, Mali, Mozambique and Niger are married before age 18. In these same countries, more than 75 percent of people live on less than $2 a day.Girls with higher levels of schooling are less likely to marry as children. In Mozambique, some 60 percent of girls with no education are married by 18, compared to 10 percent of girls with secondary schooling and less than one percent of girls with higher education. Similarly, educating adolescent girls has been a critical factor in increasing the age of marriage in a number of developing countries, including Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and Thailand.Girls who marry before 18 are more likely to experience domestic violence than their peers who marry later. A study conducted by ICRW in two states in India found that girls who were married before 18 were twice as likely to report being beaten, slapped or threatened by their husbands than girls who married later. Child brides often show signs symptomatic of sexual abuse and post-traumatic stress such as feelings of hopelessness, helplessness and severe depression."

" Child marriage denies girls their rights and their childhood. It often means the
end of her formal schooling and the start of her life as a wife and mother – frequently resulting in
profound physical, psychological and emotional consequences. Child marriage disproportionally
affects girls, thereby reinforcing gender inequality and limiting millions of girls from fulfilling their
potential and leading happy, safe and productive lives. Child marriage also undermines efforts to reduce global poverty and to build a world that is more equal. It is a violation of human rights, contravening both the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. It has also impeded the achievement of goals laid out in various international development agendas, including the Millennium Development Goals. Ending child marriage will accelerate efforts to achieve a safe, healthy and more prosperous future for girls and women around the world," voices Girls not Brides .

Facts about Child Marriage

• Approximately 15 million girls are married every year before they reach 18 years.1 That is, approximately 41,000 every day.
• In the developing world, 1 in 3 girls is married by age 18, and 1 in 9 is married by age 15, some as young as eight or nine.2
• Child marriage occurs around the world, and cuts across countries, cultures, religions and ethnicities: 45% of girls under age 18 are married in South Asia; 39% in sub-Saharan Africa; 23% in Latin America and the Caribbean; 18% in the Middle East and North Africa; and in some communities in Europe and North America too.3
• Niger has the highest prevalence rate of child marriage in the world with 76% of girls getting married before 18 years, while Central African Republic has the highest prevalence of girls getting married before their 15th birthday at 29%.4
• India has the highest absolute number of child brides in the world with over 26 million girls marrying before 18 years. Surprisingly countries like Brazil, Mexico and Indonesia also feature in the top ten countries with the highest absolute number of child brides in the world.5
• While there has been a decrease in child marriage over the past 30 years, progress remains uneven across regions. While there are substantial variations in the rates of child marriage within and among regions and countries, the rate of progress is not fast enough.
• Girls who marry before the age of 18 are more likely to experience physical, sexual, and emotional abuse than those girls who marry later.
• Early childbearing also increases the risks to new-borns. In low and middle income countries, babies born to mothers under 20 years of age have a 50% higher risk of being stillborn or of dying within the first few weeks of life than those born to older women. 

 No matter it is one of the burning issues of today where in most parts of the world girl child are suffering the consequences of being deprived. To some extent the development agencies are now working towards developing and targeting the problems but having said that is it just their issue.
Our daughters, & sisters are still facing the problem of being vulnerable. we have to understand that till the time, we give gender equality in our core-values things will not move ahead.  So a heightened awareness program targeting all needs to be adopted.