Learning, playing or being married as a child…
who decides and what is at stake for a country &
its citizens
Brussels, 09 October 2014
Child marriage
• Child marriage, defined as a formal marriage
or informal union before age 18
• It’s a violation of human rights
• There is no free and full consent
• It’s the result of the interplay of economic and
social forces
• It’s a global concern – a Deterrent to
Development
Child marriage affects girls in far greater
numbers than boys
The highest rates of child marriage are found in
South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa
Almost half of all child brides worldwide live in
South Asia; 1 in 3 are in India
In every region, the poor are most at risk of
child marriage
Socio-economic situation and practice
of Child Marriage
90
80
70
% Child Marriage
60
Benin
50
Cameroon
40
Nigeria
Bangladesh
30
India
Philippines
20
10
0
1 quintile
2 quintile
3 quintile
4 quintile
5 quintile
Child brides tend to have low levels of education
Consequence of the practice of Child
Marriage on GIRLS (Part I)
• Married children are generally isolated and their childhood and
freedom is denied
• It disrupts her education, limits her opportunities, and limits her
possibility to develop employable skills. It hampers her ability to
contribute to her community, making it harder for families,
communities and countries to escape poberty.
• I puts her at greater risk to experience violence, abuse and
exploitation.
• Girls with secondary schooling are up to six times less likely to
marry as children, making education one of the best strategies
for protecting girls and combating child marriage.
Consequences of the practice of Child
Marriage on GIRLS (Part II)
• Increased health risks for both the girl and her children.
• Increased risk of early, unwanted and/or frequent
pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections.
• Maternal deaths related to pregnancy and child birth are
important for girls aged 15-19 worldwide (some ~50,000
deaths/year). Girls between 10 and 14 years of age are
five times more likely than women aged 20 to 24 to die in
pregnancy and childbirth.
Consequences of the practice of Child
Marriage
• A bottleneck to a society’s economic growth, development
and reduction of inequalities.
• Lost of competitiveness and potential – impacting a country
Human Development.
• Limited capacity for increasing fiscal space and mobilizing
domestic resources to finance national development plans.
• Increased risks of unsafe migration and insecurity.
• Sustained vicious circle of poverty.
• CHILD MARRIAGE IS A GLOBAL PROBLEM
• An impediment to achievement of nearly every
Millennium Development Goal.(1-6)
Source: UNICEF, A Promise Renewed, 2012
Child Marriage: Progress, but pace remains
slow
• Child marriage, defined as a formal marriage or informal union
before age 18, is a reality for both boys and girls, although girls are
disproportionately the most affected.
• In Least Developed Countries, about 1 out 2 women aged 20-49
(52% of the total population of women this age) were married
while children. 20% before they were 15 years old.
• While data from 47 countries show that overall, the median age at
first marriage is gradually increasing, this improvement has been
limited primarily to girls of families with higher incomes.
• Overall, the pace of change remains slow. While 48% of women
45-49 years old were married before the age of 18, the proportion
has only dropped to 35% of women 20-24 years old.
(Sources: UNICEF, A Promise Renewed, 2012; UNICEF, Progress for Children, 2010)
Globally the practice is declining, specially for
under 15 marriages and in some regions
Changes are possible …and the evidence is
available
• Experiences from Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Djibouti, Ethiopia, India,
Malawi, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal and Somalia indicate that child
marriage can be addressed.
• OHCHR Report, April 2014
• African Union Declaration and Campaign (May 2004)
• Combining
–
–
–
–
legal and policy measures (gender discrimination)
Social protection schemes to support most vulnerable populations
primary and secondary schooling—
and enabling people to discuss and reach the explicit, collective decision to
end child marriage (gov. to facilitate national dialogue toward changing social
norms)
– Adolescent and youth participation
– Attention to married girls: education and access to health services
Unless progress is accelerated, the global number of
child brides will remain at least as high as it is today
Prospects: Sub-Saharan Africa will have the largest
number and global share of child brides by 2050
Some suggested action
•
Join the Global Commitment & Momentum for ending the practice of child
Marriage(Intal Day of the Girl Child; CSW; .Girls Not Bridges)
 Improve access to good quality primary and secondary education with equity
and eliminate gender gaps.
 National authorities and development partners to maintain their domestic
resource and ODA respectively in BASIC EDUCATION and for Secondary
education beyond 2015.
 Propose and enforce appropriate legislation to increase the minimum age of
marriage for girls and boys to 18 and raise public awareness about child
marriage as a violation of children’s human rights.
 Strengthen the vital registration systems, essential to gathering data
 Request national governments to strengthened national human rights
protection systems to ensure the enforcement of laws and to monitor and
redress child rights violations.
 Support programmes specifically addressing the issue of child marriage
(addressed to vulnerable groups, social norms change…).
Ending child marriage will help break the
intergenerational cycle of poverty by allowing
girls and women to participate more fully in
society.
WHEN GIRLS ARE ALLOWED TO BE GIRLS,
EVERYBODY WINS.
• THANKS for your attention!