A new report by the charity “Save The Children” reveals that approximately 2.5 million more girls are at risk of being pushed into child marriage in the next 5 years due to the impact of COVID -19. They predicted that this could be the worst rise in the rates of child marriages compared to last 25 years.
The news report estimates more than half a million girls could be forced into child marriage this year. It has also predicted that about a million more girls could become pregnant this year. The harsh impact of the pandemic has put a lot of girls into harsh circumstances.
It
is a hike in the previously anticipated numbers of child marriages this year
which was 12 million girls. It brings the total of child marriages this year to
12.5 million. Due to the estimated increase, it could also lead to a spike in
school dropouts and teen pregnancies due to child marriages.
The Main Cause of Child Marriages During the Pandemic and Its Effects
According to the CEO of “Save The Children” international, the global pandemic has forced many people into poverty due to losing their jobs, which in turn has forced many girls to work support the family and look after their needs.
This has also caused them to go on for days without food, become caregivers to the sick family members and drop out of school. He also states that girls have a far less or slim chance of returning back to school compared to the boys.
Mostly the parents of these girls are daily wage laborer's or people with less economic power. Due to the pandemic, these people are forced into joblessness. This forces the girls into child marriages so that the burden to the financial crisis is lifted off their shoulders a little bit.
The chief executive of “Save The Children” UK, Kevin Watkins says that there is a rise in the risk of sexual exploitation and violence along with food and economic crisis mostly in places with humanitarian emergencies. This cause the parents to force girls into child marriages mostly with older men.
He says that child marriages cause harm to the girls, as they abuse girl rights. It causes an increased risk in abuse, lifelong violence, depression, disabilities and even death, and the main cause of the death being childbirth, as the bodies of minor girls are not developed to give birth to children.
The
report states that there aren’t enough evidence girls living in a humanitarian
crisis like floods, wars, earthquakes, diseases are at a higher risk of child
marriages. It shows that nine from ten countries that have high rates of child
marriages are considered to be in really fragile states.
The Regions Were Girls Are Highest Affected by Child Marriages
In South Asia, almost 200,000 girls are affected by child marriages followed by the west and central Africa with 90,000, the Caribbean and Latin America with 73,400 child marriages. The report also states that they could be an increase in other countries as well.
Child
marriages are expected to rise in the pacific and east Asia with 61, 000
marriages followed by East Asia and Europe with 37,200 and north Africa and the
middle east with 14,400 marriages. They are the worst rise in numbers of child
marriages.
The
Regions with the Highest Risk Adolescent Pregnancies Due to Child Marriages
The regions which are at a huge risk in adolescent pregnancies this year are southern and east Africa with 282,000 followed by western and central Africa with 260,000 and the Caribbean and Latin America with 181,000. These numbers are enough to send a chill down our spines.
With
the above-mentioned figures, the report states that almost a million girls are
a risk of adolescent pregnancies and it doesn't help the fact that the leading
reason for death among 15-19-year-old is death during childbirth due to
complications.
More Important Information Provided in the Report:
1. Gender-Based
Violence
Before
the pandemic, the rate of gender-based violence was already high as it is
estimated that at least one out of 10 girls have been a victim of rape or
sexual violence from their current or former partners. The pandemic has caused
an increase in gender-based violence.
2. Interruption in Education
The pandemic has caused schools to shut and that has caused an interruption in the education of about 1.6 billion children. Based on the observations made during the outbreak of Ebola, they suggest that many girls will never be able to go back to school.
The
reason for this is the need for these girls to work, the pressure and risk of
child marriage, pregnant girls being banned from attending school and contact
lost with education. It also says that the risk of not receiving an education
is high aiming girls who don’t have an option of distance learning.
3. Increased Cases of Female Genital Mutilation
The
estimated number of increase in female genital mutilation by the UN is 2
million in the next 10 years because of COVID-19. They also have predicted that
most of the girls affected by these practices are girls under the age of 14.
Conclusion
It is the need of the hour that every man and woman, irrespective of every gender should stand together to fight for the injustice that is being done to the girl child since ages and instead of a decrease in cases there has been a tremendous increase.
It,
not a one-man show, it is a fight of us all as one man. if we stand firm and
strong together the injustice can be defiantly turned to justice for the
blooming buds ( our little girls) because every child deserves a happy and
memorable childhood and not a traumatic one.
Written by - Lirica Machado
Edited by – Adrija Saha
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