Pasmun Jr: United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)

Child Marriage

COMMITTEE: United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)

TOPIC: Child Marriage

ROOM: 112

CHAIR: Cabrera Balderas, León Mateo y Amaro Hernández Franco Alejandro

1 in 3 girls in the developing world are married by their 18th birthday. This can end their chance of completing an education and puts them at greater risk of isolation and violence. For girls under 15 the incidence of early and forced marriage is 1 in 9. Some are married as young as five years old. Victims of early and forced marriage typically have children very young. Approximately 70,000 girls die in labour every year.

The causes of early and forced marriage

The causes of early and forced marriage are complex, interrelated and dependent on individual circumstances and context. But the practice is driven by these main factors:

• Gender inequality. Women and girls often occupy a lower status in societies as a result of social and cultural traditions, attitudes, beliefs that deny them their rights and stifle their ability to play an equal role in their homes and communities. In the ten countries with the highest rates of early and forced marriage, five have laws that permit girls to be married earlier than boys.

• Poverty. In families on a low income, girls may be viewed as an economic burden. The perception of girls’ potential to earn an income as comparatively poor pushes girls out of their homes and into marriage. Globally, girls from the poorest 20% of households are three times more likely to be a victim.

• Negative traditional or religious practices. In many countries the importance of preserving family ‘honour’ and girls’ virginity is such that parents push their daughters into marriage well before they are ready. There is a belief that marriage safeguards against ‘immoral’ or ‘inappropriate behaviour’.

• Failure to enforce laws. Sometimes families are not even aware they are breaking the law. In some countries early marriage is so prevalent, prosecutions are seldom brought.

• Conflicts, disasters and emergencies. Disasters and emergencies increase economic pressures on households and many families that wouldn’t previously have considered early marriage turn to it as a last resort.

The consequences of early and forced marriage

Early and forced marriage contributes to driving girls into a cycle of poverty and powerlessness. They are likely to experience:

• Illiteracy and poor education. When a girl enters into early or forced marriage, their family will remove them from schooling, as their role will then be to carry out domestic work and bear children. Girls with no education are 3 times more likely to be married before the age of 18 than those with secondary education. And the impact continues through the generations. Daughters of young, uneducated mothers are more likely to drop out of school and be married early, repeating the cycle.

• Increased mortality rate. Girls who are victims of early and forced marriage have higher mortality rates than their unmarried counterparts. In developing countries the leading cause of death among girls aged 15-19 is childbirth, where they are twice as likely to die in labour as a woman over 20.

• Poor sexual health. Most girls who are subjected to early or forced marriage usually have poor sexual health. They will have engaged in sex before being physically and emotionally ready, and due to marrying an older man will be at increased risk of sexual infections such as HIV. Research carried out in Nyanza, Kenya found that HIV rates in adolescent married girls was double that of the national average.

• Higher risk of abuse. According to research carried out by the World Health Organisation, married girls aged 15 to 19 are more likely to experience violence than older married women. Due to lack of education, lower status, lack of control and powerlessness, girls subjected to early or forced marriage suffer higher levels of violence, abuse and rape.