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AUTHOR(S) Elizabeth Presler-Marshall; Erin Oakley; Shoroq Abu Hamad (et al.)
Age- and gender-based violence during adolescence is widespread, and the risks permeate all spheres of adolescents’ lives – family and marriage, schools, peer networks and communities. Yet this violence affects girls and boys very differently within and across low- and middle-income country (LMIC) contexts. Midway through the Sustainable Development Agenda, data from the Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (GAGE) research programme reinforces the urgency of investing in a tailored, adequately resourced package of interventions, coordinated across sectors and development actors. This would allow the global community to make meaningful progress towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 5 and 16 to eliminate all forms of violence affecting young people. This brief draws on data collected in three of GAGE’s core countries: Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Jordan using mixed-methods research. GAGE findings highlight that adolescent girls – and boys – regularly face myriad forms of age- and gender-based violence. Risks are context-dependent, which in some cases means adolescent girls and boys do not perceive what they are experiencing as violence, and in other cases leads them to embrace such behaviour because it demonstrates to their peers and communities that they are conforming to social norms. Critical to tackling this violence is a recognition that age-based violence is often deeply gendered; that gender norms leave girls and boys at heightened risk of different types of violence; and that sometimes the best way to support girls to lead lives free of violence is to ensure that the boys in their environments are also free of violence.
What kind of opportunities can a child expect in life? Every child deserves to be loved, cared for, free from the threat of violence, and have the ability to fulfil their potential through exercising their agency, pursuing their education, and making choices in how to earn and spend money. However, due to entrenched gender norms and societal practices, girls are particularly at risk of living in an environment where many of their God-given rights are taken away from them. Child marriage is perhaps the most blatant sign of this. Every year, approximately 12 million girls are married before they reach the age of 18, robbing them of the opportunity to reach their full potential. Child marriage can result in early pregnancy (with associated serious health risks) and social isolation, interrupt schooling, limit opportunities for career and vocational advancement, and place girls at increased risk of domestic violence.
AUTHOR(S) P. Thangaperumal; R. Mangaleswaran; M. R. Prasad
General Child marriage situation pre-covid, why increased during covid, causes, reflection from selected communities. Many socio-economic evils deprives numerous children from their right to healthy and safe nurturing environment. One such evil is the child marriage practised from age old days and yet not eradicated. UNICEF defines child marriage or early marriage as the union of a girl or boy under the age of 18years which encompasses both official weddings and informal cohabitations in which children under the age of 18 live as if they were married. According to UNICEF, 110 million child marriages occurred from 2011 to 2021 worldwide and 25 million were avertedduring the same time frame. In spite of being a pioneer in the battle against child marriage, India still has 15.6 million women between the ages of 20 and 24 who were married before they turned 18. There are 223 million child brides in India, with 102 million of them marrying before the age of 15. In terms of the prevalence of child marriage, these data rank India fourth in South Asia.ICEF, 2021b). In spite of being a pioneer in the battle against child marriage, India still has 15.6 million women between the ages of 20 and 24 who were married before they turned 18. There are 223 million child brides in India, with 102 million of them marrying before the age of 15. In terms of the prevalence of child marriage, these data rank India fourth in South Asia (UNICEF, 2019).
AUTHOR(S) Sarah Baird; Maureen Murphy; Jennifer Seager (et al.)
AUTHOR(S) Joshua Yukich; Matt Worges; Anastasia J. Gage (et al.)
The study projects the potential impact of COVID-19 on child marriage in the five countries in which the burden of child marriage is the largest: Bangladesh, Brazil, Ethiopia, India, and Nigeria. The projected impact of the pandemic on child marriage is based on a Markov model. A review of empirical and theoretical literature informed construction and parameter estimates of five pathways through which we expect an elevated marriage hazard: death of a parent, interruption of education, pregnancy risk, household income shocks, and reduced access to programs and services. Models are produced for an unmitigated scenario and a mitigated scenario in which effective interventions are applied to reduce the impact.
The UNFPA-UNICEF Global Programme to End Child Marriage was designed as a 15-year programme (2016-2030) to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goal 5.3, which aims to eliminate all harmful practices, including child marriage. The COVID-19 pandemic hit at the very beginning of Phase II (2020-2023) of the Global Programme, and we know that it profoundly affected the everyday lives of girls, including their physical and mental health, education, and the economic circumstances of their families and communities. Up to 10 million more girls are estimated to becoming child brides by 2030, as a result of the pandemic. UNFPA and UNICEF Evaluation Offices conducted a joint assessment of the Global Programme adaptations to the COVID-19 crisis in 2021.
AUTHOR(S) Kate Shaw; Tendai Chigavazira; Tamara Tutnjevic
How COVID-19's impact on hunger and education is forcing children into marriage. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, most experts estimated child marriage would continue for many more decades. Because the pandemic has increased poverty levels and hunger, and decreased access to education, the risk of girls becoming child brides is also increasing. This report pairs data from World Vision’s Youth Healthy Behaviour Survey with global literature to better understand the conditions which enable child marriage and how these conditions may be changing because of the global pandemic. The report analyzes 14,964 observations from children and youth aged 12 to 18 from World Vision programming sites in Ethiopia, Ghana, India, and Zimbabwe. Case studies also provide insights into the lives of girls within these communities.
AUTHOR(S) Tameshnie Deane
AUTHOR(S) Camilla Landini; Shadia Elshiwy
AUTHOR(S) Michelle Lokot; Amiya Bhatia; Shirin Heidari; Amber Peterman
AUTHOR(S) Momoe Makino; Abu S. Shonchoy; Zaki Wahhaj
AUTHOR(S) Elizabeth Presler-Marshall; Nicola Jones; Sarah Alheiwidi
AUTHOR(S) Kath Ford; Renu Singh
UNICEF Innocenti's Children and COVID-19 Library is a database collecting research from around the world on COVID-19 and its impacts on children and adolescents.
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