On the International Day of the Girl Child, Save the Children said the marriage age among people living in conflict zones is falling.
Monsignor Joji Vadakara, Vatican City
On the occasion of celebrating the International Day of the Girl Child on October 11, Save the Children, an organization that fights for children’s rights, stated that the marriage age of girls in various conflict zones in the world is decreasing further. According to the organization, child marriages have increased by almost 20 percent in such areas. Save the Children added that by 2030, as many as one crore minors may be married due to the combination of wars, the Covid-19 pandemic, climate and economic crises.
Save the Children noted that the International Day of the Girl Child is an invitation to various governments, communities, the United Nations and other organizations to act against the evil of child marriage and protect the rights of girls.
Nearly ninety million teenagers between the ages of ten and seventeen, that is one fifth of the population, are forced to marry, risking their physical and even mental health, in the precarious conditions created by ongoing wars and conflicts in various parts of the world. Save the Children said in a press release on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the International Day of the Girl Child. Save the Children released such a statement based on a report that included the voices of married teenage girls, widows and divorced women displaced by various conflicts in various regions of the world, particularly in Kurdistan, Iraq and South Sudan.
Eight out of ten countries where child marriages exist are experiencing humanitarian crises of various kinds.
South and East Asian regions, the Pacific region, South America and the Caribbean region are more prone to child marriage due to conflicts. However, most child marriages are currently recorded in Central West African regions, which are suffering from food insecurity and poverty caused by climate emergency and conflict.
Save the Children has released a report on this after conducting studies based on the data of more than 20 lakh women from 56 countries over the past thirty years.