THE CHILD BRIDES
ALARMING figures have revealed that more than a fifth of female children in five developing countries are married before their 15th birthday.
The UNICEF figures show the country with the highest rate is Chad, in Africa, where 30 per cent of girls under 15 are married. The Central African Republic (29 per cent) is next, with Niger (28 per cent), Bangladesh (22 per cent) and Guinea (21 per cent) the other places where rates are higher than one in five. UNICEF defines child marriage as any formal marriage or informal union where one or both parties are under the age of 18. It’s illegal in the UK to get married before you are 16.
Teens are only allowed to get married between the ages of 16 and 18 with the consent of parents or legal guardians.
In other countries, though, child marriage is legal.
Niger has the highest rates in the world of girls married by the time they are 18 - at 76 per cent.
In the Central African Republic it is 68 per cent, in Chad 67 per cent, in Bangladesh 59 per cent and in Guinea 52 per cent.
There are three other countries where more than half of girls are married by the time they are 18: Mali, Burkina Faso, and South Sudan.
According to Girls Not Brides a global partnership committed to ending child marriage - more than 700 million women alive today were married as children.
They claim that number will reach 1.2 billion by 2050 unless there is a reduction in rates.
Heather Hamilton, deputy executive director of Girls Not Brides, said: “At its heart, child marriage is rooted in gender inequality and the belief that girls are a burden on their families. “Poverty, lack of education, insecurity and cultural practices also drive parents in some countries to marry off their daughters, though the reasons for child marriage vary across communities, regions and countries. “In the UK, policymakers can set an example by closing all existing legal loopholes that allow children to be married.”