South Asia home to world’s highest number of child brides – UN
New Delhi, IndiaReuters South Asia is home to highest number of child brides in the world as increased financial pressures and school closures due to COVID-19 forced families to marry off their young daughters, according to new estimates released by UNICEF on Wednesday. There were 290 million child brides in the region, accounting for 45 […]
In Jordan camp, Syrian refugees choose school over child marriage
Mafraq, Jordan Thomson Reuters Foundation Chatting enthusiastically in a classroom at the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan, a group of Syrian teenage girls share stories about married friends – some with babies already, and of their own lucky escapes. Fatima was 14 when she got engaged, but had second thoughts and broke it off. Sixteen-year-old […]
Syrian refugee girls face “dangerous” child marriage trend, says charity
Beirut, LebanonThomson Reuters Foundation Syrian refugee girls are increasingly at risk of child marriage due to a surge in pandemic-linked poverty, legal loopholes and long-term displacement in countries across the Middle East and North Africa, charity Save the Children said on Friday. More than 5.5 million Syrians are registered as asylum seekers in the region, 10 years […]
“No voice”: Child brides left out of India’s domestic violence data
Mumbai, IndiaThomson Reuters Foundation Child brides being beaten by their husbands will no longer be included in India’s biggest survey of domestic violence – potentially hiding the problem and making it even harder for married girls to get help. India’s national health survey is a mine of statistics on key social indicators – from fertility […]
The Long Read: One pastor’s fight to stop old men marrying young girls in Nigeria
LINUS UNAH, writing for Religion Unplugged, reports on Richards Akonam’s mission to put an end to the “money marriage” tradition in Nigeria…
UN to Bangladesh: do more to end child marriage
Dhaka, BangladeshThomson Reuters Foundation Bangladesh must do more to tackle child marriage if it is to meet its own goal of eliminating the crime by 2041, according to a United Nations report released on Wednesday. “This human rights violation…[is] robbing children of their childhoods,” said Veera Mendonca, a spokeswoman for UNICEF. Children play on a […]
Wow!: Girls tackle child marriage on the football pitch in India
ROLI SRIVASTAVA, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports…
Indonesia inches closer to outlawing child marriage
Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaThomson Reuters Foundation Indonesia moved closer to ending child marriage on Friday after the government secured a key nod paving the way to raise the age for girls to wed in the world’s most populous Muslim country by three years. About one in every seven girls in Indonesia is married before the age […]
CHILD MARRIAGE: WEDDED TO DEBT – FATHERS OF UNDERAGE INDIAN BRIDES TRAPPED IN BONDAGE
ROLI SRIVASTAVA, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports on the links between child marriage and debt bondage in India…
Act now or face 100 more years of child marriage, economists warn
Thomson Reuters Foundation It will take 100 years to end child marriage if current trends continue, economists warned on Friday, urging governments to spend more on tackling a problem that affects 12 million girls every year. A study by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development found global rates of child marriage were declining so […]