Child marriage causes more than 22,000 deaths of girls per year

Save the Children denounced, through a study carried out by the International Day of the Girl, that every year, more than 22,000 girls die from pregnancies and childbirth linked to child marriage.

According to this document, in West and Central Africa, which has the highest rate of child marriage in the world, there are nearly half (9,600) of all estimated marriage-related deaths. children, 26 deaths per day. Specifically, the regional adolescent maternal mortality rate is four times higher than in any other part of the world.

South Asia has 2,000 child marriage-related deaths per year (six per day), followed by East Asia and the Pacific with 650 deaths (two per day) and Latin America and Caribbean with 560 deaths per year (almost two per day).

Save The Children explained that although in the past 25 years nearly 80 million child marriages have been avoided globally, progress had stalled even before the Covid-19 pandemic, which, he warned, has not done more than exacerbate the inequalities that lead to child marriage.

10 million marriages by 2030

This is, he points out, due to the closure of schools, pressured or closed health services and more families pushed into poverty.

In this context, the entity says, women and girls face a greater risk of violence during long lockdowns. Indeed, it guarantees that An additional 10 million girls are expected to marry by 2030, leaving more girls at risk of dying.

“Child marriage is one of the worst and deadliest forms of sexual and gender-based violence against girls. Every year millions of them are forced to marry men, often much older, which denies them the possibility of continuing to learn, to be girls and in many cases to survive, ”said the Minister. Managing Director of Save the Children International, Inger Ashing. .

In this sense, the NGO stressed that gender inequality is ‘the key’ to understanding child marriage. The belief that children born to young mothers are healthier and smarter is widespread in many communities, according to a survey conducted by the organization. The perception that younger girls ‘refresh’ older men with their ‘young blood’ is also common.

Petitions to governments

Ashing explained that “childbirth is the leading cause of death among teenage girls because their bodies are not prepared to have children” and calls for “the health risks of girls who have children” not be “ignored”.

According to him, governments “must put girls first and ensure that they are protected against child marriage and premature deaths related to childbirth.” “This can only happen if girls have a say in decisions that affect them,” Ashing said.

This is not Save The Children’s only request to governments, they also call to address the immediate and current risks of gender-based violence, including child marriage, by putting girls’ rights and gender equality at the center. humanitarian responses. and Covid-19; guarantee the rights of all girls; and work to comply with the Global Acceleration Plan for Gender Equality, which set the goal of preventing nine million child marriages in five years, among other measures.

(with EP information)

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