Child marriage will take three hundred years to disappear. Meanwhile, the figures continue to increase. Right now, they are twelve million, according to data from the UNgirls who have been forced to marry.
“This practice steals childhood, prevents them from continuing with their education, condemns them to violence and exposes precede pregnancies,” Arantxa Osés, spokesperson for Save the Children. They become premature adults, forced to take care of home tasks and to deal with early pregnancies.
Pendate, A young from Senegalhe was able to continue studying thanks to one of the programs of this organization. “I was fifteen when my parents wanted to give me a friend of the family,” he says.
Causes of children’s marriages
Poverty and armed conflicts contribute to the implementation of forced marriages. Growing up in a less wealthy home means having four times more chances of marriage before turning at age eighteen. Similarly, living in conflict areas increases by 20% the probability of getting married being less.
To this is added The climatic crisis. Two out of three forced marriages occur in regions with high climatic risk, such as South Sudan, Ethiopia or Mali. Natural disasters cause the closure of schools and, consequently, the end of young women’s education.
In the African continent the figures shoot. Niger is the country with the highest index in the worldin which 76% of girls are married against their will.
