Written by Ammarah Kabir

As the world grapples with deteriorating economies, heartbreaking death tolls, frustrating restrictions and debilitating redundancies, there has been another, insufficiently recognised, impact of the global pandemic: rising numbers of child marriages.

Child marriage is defined by the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), as the marriage of an individual before the age of 18. It can be either a formal marriage or informal union where the child lives with a partner as if they were married. Although both boys and girls fall victim to it, statistics illustrate that it is much more common for girls under the age of 18 to be married.

Child marriages do not just apply to situations where both individuals are under 18; there have been thousands of cases where girls have been married to men who are double or triple their age. There have also been reports of girls marrying men who have children that are older than them.

Despite most countries having laws in place which make it illegal to marry a person under the age of 18, there have been exceptions to the law. The main exception is parental consent alongside religious reasons, authorisation from the courts, if the girl is pregnant or had a child and the physical and mental maturity of the girl. However countries such as Saudi Arabia and Yemen have no minimum age requirement for marriage and therefore exceptions to the rule are irrelevant.

Child marriages are not geographically limited. They occur worldwide but continents like Africa, Latin America and Asia have the highest number of child marriages. South Asia in particular is seeing a rise in the number of cases. According to UNICEF, almost one in five girls are married before the age of 15 and worldwide, 650 million girls will be married before they turn 18. Of this number 285 million or 44% stems from South Asia.

However these statistics should not be taken at face value as there are hundreds if not thousands of cases which go unnoticed and unreported.

The correlation with COVID-19

One of the main drives of child marriage is poverty. Families tend to marry their daughters in exchange for money, valuable assets such as a house or the lesser burden of feeding another mouth.

Due to the pandemic, thousands have lost their jobs and this has led to an increase in poverty especially in developing countries. India, for example, which has the large child population of 472 million, has found that over 40 million children have been affected by the lockdown and this number continues to grow.

Like most countries, India began closing schools to prevent the spread of the virus. However, this has increased the chances of child marriages and stripped children of their safety net. School is where they are able to be educated on their rights, where they can speak to teachers or friends about any marriage pressures they face and where they can report such crimes without the fear of backlash.

In an October report from the children’s charity Save the Children, Karen Flanagan, the charity’s Australia’s Principal Advisor on Child Protection, stated that because of COVID-19 more girls are being pushed to drop out of school and help provide for the family. Girls have less of a chance of returning to school in comparison to boys and eventually are forced to work and/or get married. Without an education they are less likely to be able to break past the steps that lead to child marriages.

Many reports on the issue over the years have found that parents have protested that a reason for child marriages during the pandemic is because it protects and safeguards the wellbeing of their girls whilst they are out of education. But this leads to young girls marrying older men for financial support, falling pregnant at a young age and increases the likelihood that they will suffer from mental and physical abuse.

“These marriages violate girls’ rights and leave them at an increased risk of depression, lifelong violence, disabilities, and even death, including from childbirth, given their bodies simply aren’t ready to bear children.” Karen stated.

Child marriages are also on the rise because they’re cheaper to host during the pandemic. As governments across the globe have put a restriction on gatherings, cultures which would usually have large weddings can now use COVID-19 as an excuse to hold a small ceremony. This is particularly applicable to the South Asian community, in which people typically spend thousands on a wedding ceremony which lasts longer than a week.

Not only has the pandemic increased the number of child marriages occurring, it has also slowed the progress that children’s charities have made and will reverse the 25 years of progress which were made prior. In the last 25 years there have been over 78.6 million child marriages which have been prevented due to charities like Save the Children.

Childline reported that there were 17% more calls related to child marriages this year than there were last, and Girls Not Brides have predicted that there could be 61 million more child marriages by 2025 if nothing is done now. These statistics are only the tip of the iceberg. As said, there are countless cases which go unreported and unnoticed and this number will only increase.

What needs to be done

Several charities including Save the Children are calling upon world leaders to help fund and support the charities which rescue children from the abuse they endure through early marriage and give them the childhood they deserve. Chairty Girls not Brides states that, “the funding that is currently available is nowhere near large enough to match the scale of child marriage worldwide”.

The longer world leaders take to address the problem at hand and the longer it takes to fund the cause of such charities the worse the problem will become. Not only will it have a future impact, it will also erase all the hard work and change already done by these charities.

More than just a Virus: COVID-19 Impact on Child Marriage

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