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Child marriage and climate change are two pressing issues that intersect in complex ways, impacting the lives of vulnerable communities worldwide. For many families that live in areas heavily affected by climate change, marrying their daughters off at an early age can be the only solution they see to get through their crisis.
This article doesn’t paint a pretty picture. Still, it shows the harsh truth that we all need to look at to understand the importance of getting involved in helping to end child marriage. Child marriage permanently changes the lives of 12 million girls every year. That means that around the globe, an underaged girl gets married every three seconds. This has a devastating impact on their education, mental and physical health, security, and economic prospects.
Climate change presents a significant threat to global development and security, with potential impacts reaching far beyond rising sea levels, resource scarcity, and natural disasters. An emerging body of anecdotal evidence suggests that climate change may also be a driving force behind the increasing rates of child marriage worldwide.
Consider being a parent facing difficulties in providing for your family due to a harsh drought impacting your livelihood. Deciding to marry off your daughter can be just a way to reduce the number of mouths to feed. Think about a young girl who has a passion for learning but had her school destroyed by a devastating cyclone. Without access to education, she could find herself forced into a child marriage.
Reflecting on these scenarios, it becomes evident that the climate crisis hits home personally for families living in areas most affected by climate change. To better understand the way climate instability directly affects child marriages, here are the most common factors that drive families to choose this fate for their daughters:
1. Loss of Resources
Environmental crises cause economic shocks, particularly for people living in rural areas, most dependent on the environment to provide their necessities. Regions with elevated rates of child marriage are often also areas experiencing significant impacts from extreme weather conditions.
Child marriage is perceived as a potential means to secure the family’s economic future in such crises. Studies have established links between extreme natural phenomena such as droughts and floods and increased child marriages.
2. Disruptions in Educational Opportunities
Environmental crises can disrupt education both directly, through the destruction of school infrastructure, and indirectly through worsening poverty, displacement of families, and lack of educational provision in temporary shelters, with consequent effects on child marriage.
A 2015 report published by the Government of Malawi highlighted the impact of floods on the education system, noting a direct correlation between these extreme natural events and a rise in child marriage. Research conducted in Indonesia also revealed a similar trend, with secondary education serving as a protective factor against child marriage following natural disasters.
Studies in India and Vietnam further supported this finding, indicating that parental education and children's school enrollment were pivotal in preventing child marriage after floods or droughts. In Bangladesh, families have resorted to pulling their children out of school as a coping mechanism in response to the effects of climate change.
Access to education and resources, along with economic shocks from environmental crises, also cause families to struggle to meet costs associated with education (school fees, books and materials, transportation). On top of that, some families also choose to prioritize male education when they have insufficient resources, highlighting how education, access to resources, and gender inequality can all intersect to influence decisions around child marriage.
3. Families Becoming “Climate Change Refugees”
Displacement of populations during humanitarian crises has been seen to increase the rate of child marriage among that population. Environmental crises often cause families to migrate either before or after disasters, and this can influence decisions around child marriage.
Floods, droughts, and natural disasters have destroyed crops, livestock, and homes, forcing thousands of farmers in rural areas out of work. Many of these families choose to migrate to bigger cities in search of employment, where the costs of living are much higher. These so-called “climate change refugees” are often forced to live in impoverished and desperate conditions in the city, making girls’ education a luxury they cannot afford.
Some families also resort to child marriage as a way to move their daughters away from areas at high risk of environmental disasters.
4. Dowry and Bride Prices
In various regions around the world, dowry and bride prices are traditional practices that involve payments made between families in the context of marriage. Dowry is typically paid by the bride's family to the groom, while the bride price is paid by the groom or his family to the bride's family. This custom is most prevalent in South Asia for dowry and in Western, Central, and Eastern Africa for bride price.
Interestingly, younger girls may require smaller dowries or command higher bride prices in different regions. For example, in Malawi, economic hardships resulting from environmental crises like floods can force families to marry off their daughters to alleviate financial strain. This phenomenon is observed in other parts of Africa as well, where bride price practices are linked to increases in child marriages following natural disasters like droughts or floods.
5. Protecting the Family “Honor”
The notion of "honor" can also serve as a driving factor behind child marriage. Parents may arrange marriages for their daughters to prevent rumors or gossip about their interactions with boys.
In addition, some families view marriage as a means of safeguarding their daughters from the prevalent issue of sexual harassment. Married girls are perceived to be less vulnerable to harassment as a male figure accompanies them.
For an unemployed father who struggles to provide for his family, "honor" carries even more weight. Men are often instilled with the belief that they should be the primary providers for their families, and failure to do so may lead to feelings of emasculation. This sense of inadequacy is heightened if a man's daughter is subjected to gossip, harassment, or considered promiscuous in any way.
To avoid emasculation, fathers may be prone to arrange marriages for their daughters to preserve their family's honor.
When children get married before they become adults, they are more likely to experience different types of violence. This is especially true for girls because of gender inequality. Girls who get married before they turn 15 are at a 50% higher risk of facing violence from their partners. They are also more likely to be victims of sexual violence and other forms of abuse at home.
Sometimes, girls are forced into marriages because they have had sex or become pregnant early due to exploitation. Most adolescent births happen within marriages, and pregnancy and childbirth complications are a significant cause of death for girls aged 15-19.
In some countries, like those in Africa where Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is expected, girls who marry young are more likely to undergo this harmful practice. Child marriage and the violence associated with it can have severe effects on children's physical and mental health, leading to higher rates of depression, suicide, and illnesses like HIV.
Child marriage is considered a form of gender-based violence because it violates the rights of children and takes away their freedom. This is recognized by international law.
The inspiring story of a child bride who managed to change her fate and become a supporter for other girls in her community comes from a small village in Kenya called Bubisa, inhabited by the Gabra tribe. A village without a gas station or grocery store that sits about 30 miles north of Marsabit, the nearest developed town, and 360 miles north of Nairobi, the nation’s capital.
Nuria Gollo is a member of the board of the National Council for Children’s Services in Kenya and is actively involved in advocating for children's rights in the country's northern region. Coming from the Gabra tribe, Gollo has personally experienced the adverse effects of early marriage, having been married off by her father at the age of 16.
Despite facing obstacles in pursuing her dream of becoming a teacher due to her marriage, Gollo eventually ran away and found support from friends. While her decision initially strained her relationship with her parents, they ultimately accepted her choice after her ex-husband remarried years later.
After finally receiving a certificate of divorce from her ex-husband, Gollo remarried and committed herself to preventing child marriages in her community. She is now well-known in the Marsabit region for rescuing girls from forced marriages and advocating for their education.
Gollo works closely with families and authorities to address cases of child marriage and collaborates with the government to implement measures to reduce such practices in the northern communities.
Kenya is one of the countries most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, ranking 36th in vulnerability and 152nd in preparedness according to the University of Notre Dame’s Global Adaptation Initiative Index. While child marriage has been illegal in Kenya since 1990, when the country ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child, there are still challenges in eliminating this harmful practice. Efforts to end child marriage by 2020 have seen some success, with the percentage of young women married before the age of 18 decreasing from 34% in 1994 to 23% in 2016.
However, the effects of climate change have led to a resurgence of child marriage in northern Kenya in recent years. Droughts and locust infestations linked to climate change have devastated the region, leading to a decline in water and food resources. This has forced families to marry off their daughters in exchange for dowries, often consisting of clothing, milk, and camels.
Solutions for addressing child marriages and violence against children require accelerated action in policies and communities. It is essential for policies addressing the climate crisis also to consider child marriages and violence against children to resolve these issues effectively.
Research, such as the evidence brief on environmental crises and child marriage from UNFPA, provides crucial insights for decision-makers to take action. Expert-driven policy solutions, like the End Violence Partnership's key messages brief and policy proposal for protecting children in humanitarian settings, urge governments and donors to prioritize child protection in response plans and allocate funding to meet the needs of children in crises.
In addition to policy changes, community involvement and advocacy play a vital role in driving transformation. Children themselves are also speaking out and leading efforts to end violence. Through collaboration with children and advocates, the end violence community must continue working together across borders and settings to accelerate action and ensure the rights and safety of all children worldwide.
Child marriage and climate change are deeply intertwined issues that have wide-ranging impacts on vulnerable communities around the world. The harsh reality of families forced to marry off their daughters as a result of environmental crises highlights the urgent need for intervention and support to end this harmful practice.
Efforts to end child marriage must be met with policy changes, community involvement, and advocacy at all levels to protect the rights and safety of children worldwide. By addressing the root causes of child marriage and violence against children, we can create a more just and equitable world for future generations. Together, we can work towards a future where every girl is free from the bonds of early marriage and can realize their full potential.
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