Date: Fri, 18 Jul 2014 20:24:36 +0200
Child brides: crackdown on marriages to appease gods and settle debts
International
<https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/girl-summit-2014> Girl Summit
kicks off in London next week with ambitious aim of ending child marriage
within a generation
* Katy Migiro in Nairobi for <http://www.trust.org/> Thomson Reuters
Foundation, part of the
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/series/guardian-development-ne
twork> Guardian development network
* <http://www.theguardian.com/> theguardian.com, Friday 18 July 2014
14.05 BST
In Ethiopia, girls are abducted on their way to school, raped and then
married to their captors; in Ghana, they are married to traditional priests
and become <http://www.trust.org/item/20131003122159-3cmei/> "slaves to the
gods" to pay for their family's sins; and in Cameroon, girls are promised in
marriage to settle debts while still in the womb.
"There are different forms of
<http://www.theguardian.com/society/child-marriage> child marriage but all
have one common point: the girl doesn't have a voice," Françoise Kpeglo
Moudouthe, <http://www.theguardian.com/world/africa> Africa regional
officer for the advocacy group <http://www.girlsnotbrides.org/> Girls Not
Brides, said. "Her status in the community is so low that she doesn't even
have a right to speak about this issue: if she wants to marry, when she
wants to marry and who she wants to marry."
On Tuesday, the
<https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/girl-summit-2014> Girl Summit
in London will bring together governments, NGOs, activists and business to
declare their intention to end child marriage in one generation.
<http://www.girlsnotbrides.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Child-marriage-and
-Education-in-Africa-Brief-by-Girls-Not-Brides-for-DAC-2014.pdf> Fifteen of
the 20 countries with the highest rates of such marriages are in Africa
(pdf), and 39% of the continent's girls are married before they turn 18.
Niger has the highest rate, with 75% of girls married before they are 18.
Moudouthe believes the summit's goal of ending child marriage in a
generation can be achieved. "The most important thing is to change the way
that girls are viewed. For me, that really is the underlying problem," she
said. "Girls are not commodities. We cannot sell them into marriage. We
cannot decide what to do with their bodies."
Child marriage is a tradition that is practised to preserve a girl's
chastity, to strengthen ties between families and as a response to poverty.
In many African countries, parents receive a bride price from the groom's
family when their daughter marries, and are relieved of the burden of
providing for her.
Engagement with the 70 million child brides around the world is critical to
breaking the cycle. "It's an intergenerational issue," Moudouthe said.
"Girls who are forced into marriage, and are not made aware of the
unfairness of the situation, are likely to have daughters who also become
child brides."
In Ethiopia, Moudouthe met a 13-year-old girl breastfeeding her second baby.
She had been married at the age of six or seven. The teenage mother was
attending a discussion club for child brides called
<http://www.popcouncil.org/uploads/pdfs/2010PGY_MesereteHiwotBrief.pdf>
Meserete Hiwot (pdf), or "base of life" in Amharic. The majority of mothers
who attend have not completed primary school and benefit from learning about
assertiveness, hygiene, financial literacy and reproductive health.
"It is so important because girls are confined in marriage. They are usually
not allowed out of the house," Moudouthe said. "Not only do they learn about
their rights but also how to handle the day to day challenges. How do you
know when your child is sick and what can you do about it?"
Other
<http://www.girlsnotbrides.org/reports-and-publications/solutions-to-end-chi
ld-marriage-summary-of-the-evidence/> strategies that experts say can help
to end child marriage are supporting girls to remain in school, enforcing
laws banning child marriage, teaching girls skills so that they can earn
money for their families, and educating communities about the negative
impacts of the practice.
Girls Not Brides wants ending child marriage to be one of the
<http://www.trust.org/spotlight/sustainable-development-goals> sustainable
development goals being drawn up to succeed the
<http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/millennium-development-goals>
millennium development goals (MDGs), which expire in 2015. "When you look at
the obstacles [to achieving the MDGs], child marriage is a common one in
that it affects six of the eight MDGs," Moudouthe said.
The world cannot achieve
<http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/universal-primary-education>
universal primary education if girls drop out of school to get married. Nor
can extreme poverty be eradicated when child marriage
<http://www.trust.org/item/?map=child-marriage-condemns-millions-of-girls-to
-poverty/> perpetuates poverty. The third goal,
<http://www.trust.org/item/20130917085426-o5mk8/?source=spotlight> gender
equality, is directly challenged by child marriage.
Similarly, it is <http://www.trust.org/item/20140625105818-69p3b/>
difficult to reduce child mortality and improve maternal health when girls
get pregnant and give birth before their bodies are mature. "The
<http://www.theguardian.com/society/children> children of girls who had them
below the age of 15 are 60% more likely to die within their first year,"
Moudouthe said. "And girls who are pregnant before the age of 15 are five
times more likely to die or be injured during their pregnancy or childbirth
[than older women]."
The <http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/aids.shtml> sixth goal linked to
child marriage is combating <http://www.trust.org/spotlight/HIV-AIDS> HIV
and Aids, which affects child brides more than unmarried sexually active
teenagers. "They are married to men who are very often much older and who
have sexual experience already, and with whom they have very little capacity
to negotiate for safe sexual practices," Moudouthe said.
MDG : Child bride in Nigeria : Zainab Oussman refused, and stayed in schoo
Zainab Oussman, who refused to marry when she was just 14. Engagement with
the world's 70 million child brides is critical to breaking the cycle.
Photograph: Getty
(image/jpeg attachment: image001.jpg)