UNICEF Portugal Addressing Child Marriage I. Background Each day in developing countries, almost 39,000 girls under the age of 18 are married, usually without their consent. Child marriage, which mostly includes child brides but child grooms are possible, prevents children from getting a full education, have a higher chance of enduring physical abuse and contracting diseases such as HIV, and a higher chance of dying while getting pregnant or giving birth. Child marriages occur mostly in developing countries all throughout Africa as well as some countries in South Asia such as India and Afghanistan. According the CARE organization, by 2020 142 million children will be married throughout the world. The lack of gender equality in some countries contribute to the growing number of girl child marriages, because of how men are seen as above women, and that once the girl is married according to social norms, she is now considered a woman. Since men and boys are seen as dominant over girls in many cultures, if a woman has a girl instead of a boy, the family is less likely to invest in their daughter’s development and education. Another reason why child marriage is widely practiced is how people may perceive it as a way out of premarital sex, thus avoiding sexual harassment and abuse although it is more common for girls who are victims of child marriage to experience abuse. The biggest reason for the occurrence of child marriage, however, is poverty. Families who have girls automatically have the mindset that their children are economic burdens, and that marrying her off young will secure their futures. Dowry can also play apart in some child marriages, since usually the dowry prices are lower if the child is younger. . In July of 2009 in Yemen, a 10-year-old girl named Nojoud Ali took her 30-year-old husband to court and demanded a divorce. Her courageous action raised and spread awareness about the impacts and issues involving child marriage, and that same year the Yemeni Parliament passed a law that outlawed marriages under the age of 18. II. UN Involvement The United Nations views child marriage as a very serious issue and has worked very hard to try to eradicate this issue over the past years. According to international law, child marriage occurs when one or both spouses are under the age of 18. The Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC) stated the 4 human rights for a child: the right to survive, the right to develop to their fullest, the right to protection from harmful practices, and the right to participate fully in family, cultural, and social life, and child marriage violates these rights. The UN have also realized that taking control over the issue of child marriage will help other countries progress towards the 2015 United Nations Millennium Development Goals. In September of 2013, the Human Rights Council adopts the very first resolution on child marriage, and over 100 countries co-sponsored the resolution, including countries that had a high rate of child marriage. On November 21, 2013, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution (A/Res/68/148) on child, early, and forced marriage in the world, which follows the adoption of the September resolution. UNICEF recently released data this year that showed the slow decreases of child marriages in the past three decades, but the progress of ending child marriage once and for all needs to scale up dramatically soon. The UNICEF shared that data from 47 countries showed the increasing age of marriages has been an improvement to only families with stable incomes. With the data that was released by UNICEF, it is predicted that if the rate of decline of child marriages doubled, the number of children being forced to marry would go to 570 million by 2030 and 450 by the year 2050. III. Country Policy Child marriage isn’t a problem in Portugal, as Portugal has a stable enough economy and its culture doesn’t focus on the degradation of women or see their young girls as economic burdens so that the citizens of Portugal don’t practice it. In Portugal, the minimum age that people can get married at is 16, but the people need both parents’ consent. In order to get married without parent consent, the minimum age is 18. Portugal co-sponsored the resolution that was adopted on September of 2013 by the Human Rights Council that focused on child, early, and forced marriage (A/HRC/24/L.34/Rev.1). Portugal also has worked with and signed many resolutions regarding children’s rights, which include the aspect of child marriage, such as the UN Resolution on the Rights of the Child, or the Omnibus Resolution. The Omnibus Resolution brings attention towards all children’s rights, not just child marriage, but seeing that Portugal is very active in keeping children equal and safe shows how serious Portugal takes this issue. Portugal also won the 2014 Child and Youth Finance International Country Award for Europe. The CYFI Country Award is given to acknowledge the accomplishments that go toward improving education, citizenship, and financial inclusion of youth. Portugal can be a very helpful resource for countries where child marriage is present because of its very serious motive towards helping children developing and living healthy lives. Also, in November of 2001, Portugal was apart of the resolution CRC/C/15/Add.162, which was held by the Human Rights Council and solely focused on the rights of the child. IV. Solutions Portugal has proposed two solutions that can possibly help take the next step towards ending child marriage in countries throughout the world. The first solution is to set laws in countries on the minimum age a person can marry. Although most countries have these laws, some countries (that often have a high rate of child marriage) don’t. Portugal, with the help of many allied countries, can help bring knowledge about the issue to these other countries about the gruesome effects of child marriage and the need for a minimum age law for marriage. The minimum age can be up to the country depending on its demographics, but the country needs to take into consideration at what point are the people able to have a say for themselves and be mature enough to marry. The second solution is to spread awareness about child marriage in the media. Social media is widely used all throughout the world in today’s society and can be used socially, but it can also be used as a way to get issues noticed by millions of interested and passionate people. If more and more people start to become aware of the effects on child marriage, it would give a better chance and likelihood for helping solve this issue. The use of social media can also be helpful to get the attention of many governments and world leaders, and that can inspire them to help make a change as well for their own countries. V. Works Cited http://portugal.angloinfo.com/family/marriage-partnerships/ http://www.girlsnotbrides.org/states-adopt-first-ever-resolution-on-child-marriage-at-humanrights-council/ http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/68/148 http://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx http://www.care.org/work/womens-empowerment/child-marriage http://www.girlsnotbrides.org/about-child-marriage/
