UNICEF announced that rates of child marriage, especially of girls, have continued to decline globally over the past decade, but at a slower pace, warning that it will take more than 300 years to eliminate the phenomenon.
“We have certainly made progress in phasing out child marriage, especially in the last decade, but that progress is not enough,” said Claudia Capa, lead author of the new UN Children’s Fund report.
In its report, the organization said: “Despite the steady decline in child marriage over the past decade, there are many crises that threaten to reverse hard-won gains in this area, including conflict, climate shocks and the ongoing impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.”
“Global regression must occur 20 times faster to achieve the sustainable development goal of ending child marriage by 2030,” he added.
The report quoted United Nations Executive Director Kathryn Russell as saying: “The world is mired in crises beyond existing crises that are shattering the hopes and dreams of vulnerable children, especially girls who should be schoolgirls, not brides. “
“We must do everything in our power to ensure children’s rights to education and a fulfilling life,” she added.
The report warns that “medical and economic crises, escalating armed conflict and the devastating effects of climate change are forcing families to seek false refuge through child marriage.”
The report notes that the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has “reduced the number of preventable child marriages by a quarter since 2020.”
According to the report, “640 million girls and women alive today were married as children, or 12 million girls every year.”
“The proportion of young women married as children has fallen from 21% to 19% since the last estimates were published five years ago,” he added.
The report warned that “Sub-Saharan Africa, which accounts for the world’s second largest proportion of child brides (20 percent), will take more than 200 years to end the practice at the current rate of progress.”
“Latin America and the Caribbean is also lagging behind and on a trajectory that will make child marriage the second-highest regional rate in the world by 2030,” the report says.
In the Middle East and North Africa, Eastern Europe and Central Asia regions, according to UNICEF, “progress has stalled after periods of sustained progress.”
UNICEF has warned that “girls who marry as children face immediate and lifelong consequences, are less likely to stay in school and face a greater risk of early pregnancy, which in turn increases the risk of health complications and mortality among children and mothers.”
Likewise, “this practice can isolate girls from their families and friends and exclude them from participating in their communities, causing significant damage to their mental health and well-being.”
Source: AFP.
