Vows of Poverty: 26 countries where child marriage eclipses girls’ education

These facts have been brought forth by worldwide humanitarian organisation CARE that released a report titled “Vows of Poverty: 26 Countries Where Child Marriage Eclipses Girls’ Education” on the occasion of the global Day of the Girl Child yesterday.

It recognised child marriage as a violation of human rights “that prevents individuals from living their lives free from all forms of violence” and that has “wide ranging and adverse consequences on the enjoyment of human rights, such as the right to education, the right to the highest attainable standard of health, including sexual and reproductive health”.

More than 250 million of our 15-year-olds are already married, too many are facing the likelihood of HIV infection, especially given the high unmet needs for family planningand every 10 minutes somewhere in the world, an adolescent girl dies by violent means, she said, adding that: These, and the generations that follow them, are the young women for whom we are working so hard. They offer an opportunity for a global commitment to breaking intergenerational transmission of poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination – and realizing our vision of a life of dignity for all.

Ghana has an unprecedented opportunity to focus on the power of the adolescent girl to drive progress and transformation if increased investments are made to address poverty and gender inequality, which are the key drivers of vulnerability among adolescents and young people.

“We are firm in our belief that if effectively supported during the adolescent years, girls have the potential to change the world – both as the empowered girls of today and as tomorrow’s workers, mothers, entrepreneurs, mentors, household heads and political leaders”, the statement said.

It also requires ensuring their sexual health and reproductive rights.

39,000 girls around the world are forced to marry each day.

The Girls’ Agenda believes that if the SDGs are to be achieved, rights of girls and women must be respected, protected and promoted.

Three years ago, on the global Day of the Girl Child, I condemned the attack against Malala and called for more opportunities for girls everywhere. “As a few poor families lose their farms to floods and mudslides, they marry their girls early to limit the number of mouths to feed and, in their view, ensure a more stable future for their daughters”, CARE observed in the report. The country with the greatest inequity remaining in primary and lower secondary is Chad. “It unleashes a ripple effect that changes the world unmistakably for the better”, says Irina Bokova, director general, UNESCO. In Guinea and Niger, approximately 70 per cent of the poorest girls have never attended school compared with less than 20 per cent of the richest boys.