Ending innocence

Thursday, 14 June 2012 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

CHILD marriage is a gross human rights violation that puts young girls at risk and keeps them mired in poverty. It is not something that Sri Lankans think is prevalent in this country, yet top Police officials in Anuradhapura estimate that around 1,200 children were married while still in school, revealing a shocking reality.

Anuradhapura ASP K.D.K. Senaratne told a seminar on Wednesday that only 157 child marriages had been reported to the Police last year but had received information on many other such marriages – nearly 10 times the reported number. If one district in Sri Lanka has such dire statistics one is forced to wonder what circumstances prevailing in others.

Unfortunately, this problem is more prevalent than one might think — more than 60 million girls under the age of 18 are married, many to men twice their age or older. If child marriage continues at its current rate, an additional 100 million girls in developing countries will be married within the next decade. That’s 25,000 new child brides every single day for the next 10 years.

What is disturbing is that such numbers come at a time when the country is in a post-war situation with better economic prospects. Yet it is clear that children remain deprived of their rights in Sri Lanka.

Poverty plays a central role in causing and perpetuating early marriage. Poor countries and families often have few resources to support healthy alternatives for girls, such as schooling. In such families with limited resources, child marriage is often seen as a way to provide for their daughter’s future. However, girls who marry young have an increased chance of being poor and remaining poor.

Marrying at a young age has lifelong consequences. Early marriage thwarts her chances at education, endangers her health and cuts short her personal growth and development. Maternal health risks are particularly troubling as risk of death in pregnancy and delivery for girls under the age of 15 is five times higher than for women in their 20s.

Taken together, the costs of this practice are too high to be ignored; societies cannot progress when even the common practice of marriage dooms girls and women to a life of poverty. Therefore, how can Sri Lanka change the fate of hundreds of girls?

Enforcing the law and increasing the penalties for child marriage is one way to go with parents and fraudulent marriage registrars being held strongly responsible for the offence. There are larger issues such as absent mothers and social pressure that will be much harder to deal with. During the time of the war child marriages were common in the north and east but there is a real opportunity to reduce them with the present development drive.

Mothers that are forced to leave their families as migrant workers and social practice are among the reasons for this situation. It also underscores the work that must be done in improving grass-root level economy and increasing awareness of the detriment caused by underage marriage. In a country proud of its basic standard of life, this is an element that cannot be tolerated.