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March 6th, 2013 
David Schulberg the 3rd
Last year, 13.5 million girls around the world married before their 18th
birthday. Half of all girls living in least developed countries marry before
then, while one in nine girls marry before they turn 15. Most of the world’s
child spouses live in South Asia (46 per cent) and in West and Central
Africa (41 per cent).
World Vision’s detailed research in Somaliland, Bangladesh and Niger found
that early marriage is often perceived by families as a “protective
measure and often in response to a crisis”, said Ms Stevenson.
Of the 25 countries with the highest rates of early marriage, the majority are
affected by conflict, fragility or natural disasters, the report found.
Girls trapped in early marriage tend to be poor, under-educated and living
in rural areas where birth and death rates are high and where conflict is
common.
The report, Untying the Knot, cited the case of a mother called Amira facing
the prospect of marrying off her 12-year-old daughter due to the conflict in
Syria.
Her family are refugees in Lebanon where they are forced to rent a home for
£65 a month, an exorbitant amount.
Amira, a mother of five, told researchers that 12-year-old Sheereen “would
be our survival”. Amira is seven months pregnant and with another mouth
to soon feed, she is running out of options.
The report says that when Sheereen was asked for her thoughts at being married
at 12, she could not answer.
Does Sheereen dream about her future? Her mother answers for her: “She doesn’t
answer you because no one has ever asked her this before.”
Alem Gebrekidan, 36, an Ethiopian who founded the ‘The Former Child Wives
Foundation’, was married at the age of ten, widowed at 13 with a
one-year-old child
“At the same time lots of my friends were being married too,” she
said. “None of us were happy but we had no choice. The decision was
made by our parents.
“When my son was one month old, my husband was killed in the conflict in northern
Ethiopia. I was widowed but I still had a baby to care for. I was very
afraid that I would not know how to care for my son.
Leaving after her husband died, she found her way on her own to Britain. “I
had never spoken English and could not read or write because I had stopped going
to school after I got married.
“I learnt English and to read and write in England and settled here. My
son stayed with my mother in Ethiopia. He is now 25 years old. I feel overwhelmed
with sadness when I think of him.”
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