UN office in Armenia reports that today, on October 11, UN marks the inaugural International Day of the Girl Child with the theme of child marriage. On this account, UNFPA, United Nations Population Fund is releasing a new study entitled Marrying too Young: End Child Marriage.
Despite efforts to decrease the practice, report shows the frequency of child marriage has remained level over the last decade. According to Marrying too Young: End Child Marriage report, if current trends continue, the number of girl child marriages will increase dramatically over the next 10 years.
The report also finds that, despite laws to prevent its practice, child marriage has remained mostly constant in developing countries over the past decade.
“No social, cultural or religious rationale for child marriage can possibly justify the damage these marriages do to young girls and their potential,” said UNFPA Executive Director, Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin. “A girl should have the right to choose whom she marries and when. Since many parents and communities also want the very best for their daughters, we must work together to end child marriage. It is the only course by which we can avert what otherwise is the human tragedy of child marriage.”
In 2010, 158 countries reported that 18 years was the minimum legal age for marriage for women without parental consent or approval by a pertinent authority. Still, in 2010, one in three girls, or 67 million girls, were married before their 18th birthday in developing countries (excluding China). Half of these child marriages took place in Asia, with another one fifth in sub-Saharan Africa. But the practice is also widespread in some communities in Latin America, the Middle East and Eastern Europe.
Progress has been made, and the report finds that child marriage has declined in some developing countries, including Armenia, Bolivia, Ethiopia and Nepal, among other countries. The report also calls on governments and leaders to end child marriage by:
• Enacting and enforcing national laws that raise the age of marriage to 18, for both girls and boys.
• Using data to identify and target geographic “hotspots” – areas with high proportions and numbers of girls at risk of child marriage.
• Expanding prevention programmes that empower girls at risk of child marriage and address the root causes underlying the practice.
• Mitigating the harmful impact of child marriage on girls.
According to the RA National Statistical Service, there are around 422.000 girl children (0-18) living in Armenia and 42.8 % of girl children live in poverty and 3.7% live in extreme poverty. According to the survey conducted by UNFPA, in Armenia, families preferring a girl child are six times less than families preferring a boy child and each year Armenia loses over 1400 girls because of prenatal sex selection. There is already a surplus of 45.000 boys (0-18) in the country, and the tendency continues. In 2011, 20287 girls and 23160 boys were born setting a sex-at-birth ratio of 100 girls to 114 boys, while the normal ratio would have been 100 girls/102-106 boys.
