When parents lose everything, they often feel they have no choice but to marry off their girls.
Eleanor Goldberg – May 17, 2016
Prakash Hatvalne/AP - In this photo, a newly married child bride, left, stands at a temple in Rajgarh, about 155 kilometers (96 miles) from Bhopal, India. Ignoring laws that ban child marriages, several young children, are still married off as part of centuries-old custom in some Indian villages. India law prohibits marriage for women younger than 18 and men under age 21. (AP Photo/Prakash Hatvalne)
When a natural disaster strikes, aid agencies are quick to provide such basics as food, water and shelter. But they also need to offer up the services that could prevent vulnerable girls from getting married off, a new report concluded.
Every year, 14.2 million girls are forced to wed before they turn 18, according to UNICEF. It’s a human rights violation that puts these girls at higher risk for intimate partner violence, sexually transmitted infections and illiteracy, among other issues. But struggling families are even more likely to marry off their girls in the immediate wake of a crisis in hopes that that will spare their daughters from a life of poverty, a report released by the Women’s Refugee Commission found.
So, it’s up to programs and government leaders to protect and empower adolescent girls in the aftermath of such disasters in order for them to be able to escape the practice.
To identify just how much conflict and natural disasters affect vulnerable girls, the Women’s Refugee Commission began evaluating displaced girls in 2011 from Uganda, the Congo, Syria and Somalia.
“Poverty, exacerbated in displacement, is a driver of early marriage as parents hope to secure a daughter’s future or to meet basic needs,”Jennifer Schlecht, the author of the report, noted.
Such was the case last year after the 7.8-magnitude earthquake in Nepal killed nearly 9,000 people.
“There will be a dramatic increase in child marriage and trafficking, ... we know the situation will be much worse,” Anand Tamang, director of CREHPA, a Nepalese group which campaigns against child marriage, told Reuters last year.
In that case, girls were more susceptible to child marriage if they lost their parents, if their parents could no longer keep them in school or if their schools were destroyed.
To put an end to these trends, the Women’s Refugee Commission outlined a six-point plan that could protect vulnerable girls and enable them to lead healthy and fulfilling lives.
Provide Adequate Food, Clothing And Shelter
Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
KATHMANDU, NEPAL - MAY 6, 2016: A girl drinks cold drinks as she walk to her camp at the earthquake victims camp site in Kathmandu, May 6, 2015. The number of the dead in the aftermath of Nepal’s devastating earthquake has risen to 7,000 and more than 14,000 were injured according to figures from the Nepali police. (Photo by Sunil Pradhan/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
Report Referenced – Women’s Refugee Commission – A GIRL NO MORE: THE CHANGING NORMS OF CHILD MARRIAGE IN CONFLICT
https://www.womensrefugeecommission.org/girls/resources/1311-girl-no-more
Извор: WUNRN – 02.06.2016
