UNICEF has admonished that an additional 10 million girls may be forced into child marriages before the decade ends.
UN’s agency for children welfare also warned that Covid-19 is threatening to undo years of progress in reducing the practice.
In a statement issued to mark International Women’s Day, UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore, said “COVID-19 has made an already difficult situation for millions of girls even worse.
“Shuttered schools, isolation from friends and support networks, and rising poverty have added fuel to a fire the world was already struggling to put out.
Before the pandemic, UNICEF estimated that 100 million girls were at risk of child marriage in the current decade. The estimation, it said, is despite “significant” reductions in several countries.
According to the agency, over the last10 years, child marriages have decreased by 15%. This is the equivalent of 25 million marriages. However, UNICEF said the projected 10% increase spurred by the pandemic means the “gain is now under threat”.
The agency said an estimated 650 million girls and women alive are victims of child marriages. About half of those marriages took place in Bangladesh, Brazil, Ethiopia, India and Nigeria.
Effects will “play out over a generation”
UNICEF also warned that girls who marry in childhood are less likely to remain in school. And more likely to experience domestic violence.
Child marriages also increase the risk of early and unplanned pregnancy. And in turn, the risk of maternal complications and mortality. Isolation from friends and family can also take a heavy toll on the girls’ mental health and well-being.
The agency stressed that as “marriage fundamentally alters the course of a girl’s life, the full effect of the pandemic on human development will play out over a generation.”
Ms Fore in her statement, called for immediate action to ease the burden on the girls.
“One year into the pandemic, immediate action is needed to mitigate the toll on girls and their families.
“By reopening schools, implementing effective laws and policies, ensuring access to health and social services — including sexual and reproductive health services — and providing comprehensive social protection measures for families.
“We can significantly reduce a girl’s risk of having her childhood stolen through child marriage.”
UNICEF Executive Director, Henrietta Fore
An increase in FGM cases child
UNICEF also posited that a further two million girls are now at risk of undergoing circumcision before the decade ends. It said this is as a result of coronavirus-related schools closures and disruptions to aid programmes.
Speaking to the issue, a Senior Advisor from UNICEF’s prevention of harmful practices department, Nankali Maksud told reporters that during the pandemic, the hope was that there would be a replication of the phenomenon observed during the Ebola pandemic of 2014 in Western Africa.
She said measures put in place to contain the virus were similar to the ones imposed for COVID-19, with strict social distancing rules. But unfortunately, she said, “what we saw during the COVID-19 crisis is the opposite.
“The fear that communities had during Ebola is not the same that communities have had during COVID so the practice has continued.”
Nankali Maksud
Maksud also spoke about the correlation between FGM and child marriage, explaining that FGM raises the girl’s value.
“We know in some countries there is a correlation between FGM and child marriage. In order for the communities or for the families to be able to survive, girls would get circumcised as a precursor to child marriage with the girls’ family then receiving a dowry.”
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