I Grew Up Surrounded By Child Brides. Here’s What I Found So Haunting.
1 month ago

I Grew Up Surrounded By Child Brides. Here’s What I Found So Haunting.

Huff Post  

12 million girls are married each year before the age of 18. Fiordaliso via Getty Images Last November, Colombia passed a law prohibiting child marriage, giving 10.3 million girls the chance to reclaim their childhoods. When I read the news, I felt a rush of emotions — relief, hope and the bittersweet ache of what might have been for so many girls I knew who lived in the shadow of child marriage in India, including my grandmother, my aunt and my friends, all of whom had experienced being married as children under the age of 18. The marriage ended in a highly traumatic divorce eight years later, leaving my aunt with a scarlet letter of shame she didn’t deserve. Even as I stayed in college — and was many years past high school — I felt the weight of societal whispers pressing down on me whenever I visited home.

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History of this topic

Colombia votes to outlaw child marriage
4 months, 1 week ago

Colombia votes to outlaw child marriage

CNN  

CNN — Colombia’s congress has voted to change a law that allowed minors to get married with parental consent. Currently, the country’s civil code allows person as young as 14 years old to get married with parental consent. The initial proposal to reform the law – presented in 2023 – used the slogan “they’re girls, not wives” and aimed to …

Child marriage is a problem in the US that needs urgent action
10 months, 3 weeks ago

Child marriage is a problem in the US that needs urgent action

Al Jazeera  

On April 4, the state legislature in Virginia voted to amend state law, raising the marriage age to 18. Though Americans often view it as a “foreign” problem, child marriage is surprisingly widespread throughout the US, cutting across different regions, religions, and cultures, according to a new Population Institute study titled Behind Closed Doors: Exposing and Addressing Harmful Gender-Based Practices …

Unending saga of Chittoor’s child brides
1 year, 5 months ago

Unending saga of Chittoor’s child brides

The Hindu  

In the thick of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the parents of a 13-year-old girl in a remote village of Bangarupalem mandal in Andhra Pradesh’s Chittoor district frantically searched for medical help as the teen went into labour. Child marriage remains a harsh reality for over 100 forested villages in Bangarupalem, Palamaner, Gangavaram, Baireddipalle, V.Kota and Kuppam mandals in Chittoor …

South Asia has world’s highest number of child brides, says UN
1 year, 11 months ago

South Asia has world’s highest number of child brides, says UN

Al Jazeera  

There are 290 million child brides in the region, accounting for 45 percent of the global total, UNICEF says. South Asia is home to the highest number of child brides in the world as increased financial pressures and school closures due to COVID-19 forced families to marry off their young daughters, according to new estimates released by UNICEF. There were …

South Asia has world’s highest number of child brides, says UN report
1 year, 11 months ago

South Asia has world’s highest number of child brides, says UN report

Firstpost  

New Delhi: Fresh data released by the UNICEF on Wednesday revealed that South Asia has the highest number of child brides globally as increased financial costs and closure of educational institutions due to the Covid-19 pandemic forced poor families with little or no income to marry off their young daughters. “The fact that South Asia has the highest child marriage …

NCRB Data Shows 50% Rise in Child Marriage Cases in 2020; Experts Say More Reporting May Be Factor
3 years, 6 months ago

NCRB Data Shows 50% Rise in Child Marriage Cases in 2020; Experts Say More Reporting May Be Factor

News 18  

About 50 per cent rise in the cases of child marriages has been recorded in 2020 over the previous year, according to the recent NCRB data, with experts saying it does not only mean there has been an increase in these instances but that there also has been a rise in reporting. According to the National Crime Records Bureau data …

About 50% rise in child marriage cases in 2020; experts say more reporting may be a factor
3 years, 6 months ago

About 50% rise in child marriage cases in 2020; experts say more reporting may be a factor

India Today  

About 50 per cent rise in the cases of child marriages has been recorded in 2020 over the previous year, according to the recent NCRB data, with experts saying it does not only mean there has been an increase in these instances but that there also has been a rise in reporting. According to the National Crime Records Bureau data …

Child marriage: Why does it persist in the US?
4 years, 4 months ago

Child marriage: Why does it persist in the US?

Al Jazeera  

On Thursday, November 26 at 19:30GMT: Some 12 million girls are married in childhood every year, according to the UN children’s agency, with the practice still prevalent in scores of nations, including the United States. Between 2000 and 2015 more than 200,000 such unions took place in the US, as per data compiled by the documentary series Frontline and 80 …

World Bank report says child marriage costs African countries billions; West Africa has highest rate of marriage before 15
6 years, 3 months ago

World Bank report says child marriage costs African countries billions; West Africa has highest rate of marriage before 15

Firstpost  

Every year of secondary education reduces the likelihood of marrying before the age of 18 by five percent or more, it added in the report, “Educating Girls and Ending Child Marriage”. “I know how it feels to be married early and I know how you handle things in your marriage — that is so difficult.” According to a new World …

Global Development: An Indian activist fights in court to help child brides and grooms win their lives back
6 years, 9 months ago

Global Development: An Indian activist fights in court to help child brides and grooms win their lives back

LA Times  

The abuse began days after she moved in with her husband. One of India’s most successful campaigners against child marriage, Bharti runs a one-woman hotline for underage brides and grooms in northwestern India, her name and number printed in newspaper articles touting her unique approach: Instead of merely preaching against the illegal marriages, she fights them in court. Kriti Bharti …

SC says 23 million minor brides in India; one out of five weddings violate laws prohibiting child marriage
7 years, 5 months ago

SC says 23 million minor brides in India; one out of five weddings violate laws prohibiting child marriage

Firstpost  

Expressing dismay over an alarming figure of 23 million child brides in the country, the Supreme Court has said one out of every five marriages violated laws prohibiting child marriage. New Delhi: Expressing dismay over an alarming figure of 23 million child brides in the country, the Supreme Court has said one out of every five marriages violated laws prohibiting …

Honduras bans child marriages and removes parental permission exception
7 years, 8 months ago

Honduras bans child marriages and removes parental permission exception

The Independent  

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Lawmakers in Honduras have …

VIDEO: A Heartbreaking Look At A Couple Forced To Marry As Young Teens
7 years, 10 months ago

VIDEO: A Heartbreaking Look At A Couple Forced To Marry As Young Teens

NPR  

VIDEO: A Heartbreaking Look At A Couple Forced To Marry As Young Teens Enlarge this image toggle caption Mark Thiessen/National Geographic Mark Thiessen/National Geographic For 15 years, documentary photographer Stephanie Sinclair has focused her camera on what she calls "everyday brutality" — the violence, genital mutilation and forced marriage endured by girls and young women around the world, including in …

Child Marriage Is Illegal In Nepal. But Nearly 40% Of Girls Wed Before 18
8 years, 6 months ago

Child Marriage Is Illegal In Nepal. But Nearly 40% Of Girls Wed Before 18

Huff Post  

Beatriz Pitarch via Getty Images KATHMANDU, Sept 8 - Kopila Wosti was just 14 when her father married her off to a stranger who was five years older. Child marriage is illegal in Nepal, yet the impoverished Himalayan nation has failed to put in place policies to curb the practice with almost 40 percent of girls married before the age …

Tales of a child bride: ‘My father sold me for 12 cows’
8 years, 8 months ago

Tales of a child bride: ‘My father sold me for 12 cows’

Al Jazeera  

When she was 12, Grace was abducted and then raped and beaten every day for 11 months. “But I also can’t say that 100 percent of all cases are delayed because of corruption.” “For example, the poverty-stricken parents of a victim may accept financial compensation from the perpetrator’s family, which would lead to the adjournment of a case.” Misungwi says …

‘Child marriage is real: it almost happened to me’
9 years, 2 months ago

‘Child marriage is real: it almost happened to me’

Al Jazeera  

When I was a little girl growing up in Bangladesh, my mother would tell me that going to school was okay, but if I didn’t do well, she would marry me off to a rich older man who could take care of me. Suddenly I was exposed to a different world, that didn’t match my family’s values at home and …

Courageous legal challenge by child brides in Zimbabwe
9 years, 11 months ago

Courageous legal challenge by child brides in Zimbabwe

Al Jazeera  

Child marriage will end only when families understand why marriage at such a young age will endanger their daughters. Last year, the African Union launched a two-year Africa-wide campaign on child marriage, and countries in the South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation adopted a regional action plan to end child marriage. In November, the UN General Assembly passed its first …

Five Things You May Not Know About Child Marriage
11 years, 3 months ago

Five Things You May Not Know About Child Marriage

NPR  

Five Things You May Not Know About Child Marriage Enlarge this image toggle caption Jennifer Ludden/NPR Jennifer Ludden/NPR NPR's Jennifer Ludden recently traveled to the African nation of Malawi, one of many countries in the developing world where child marriage remains prevalent. The countries with the highest rates of child marriage are in sub-Saharan Africa, but those with the largest …

Can Child Marriages Be Stopped?
11 years, 4 months ago

Can Child Marriages Be Stopped?

NPR  

Can Child Marriages Be Stopped? "When they see a girl child, in our country, you don't think of anything else but marriage," says Faith Phiri, a Malawian trying to change such attitudes. Previous Next Jennifer Ludden/NPR Hide caption Many children are among the dozens of villagers who traveled by bike and foot, some from miles away, to see the play …

Child marriages continue unabated
11 years, 10 months ago

Child marriages continue unabated

Hindustan Times  

India’s poor record in stopping child marriages can be blamed on two factors: tardy implementation of law and fear of falling foul of tradition. HT Image Nationwide reports on mass child marriages show that authorities fail to tackle the menace that assumes endemic proportions on holy days such as Akshaya Tritiya or Akha Teej, which is on Monday this year. …

Desmond Tutu calls for end to child marriage
12 years, 5 months ago

Desmond Tutu calls for end to child marriage

The Independent  

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the …

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