Protecting Dreams: The Fight Against Child Marriage in Bangladesh

Child Marriage crises in Bangladesh and solution ideas.

According to a recently published report by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Bangladesh still has the highest rate of child marriage among South Asian Countries.

Child Marriage is a violation of human rights, Marriage before the age of 18 is a fundamental violation of human rights. Many factor interact to place a child at risk of marriage.

In order to prevent child marriage, the Bangladesh Government in 2017 repealed the Child Marriage Restraint Act 1929 and enacted a new law called the Child Marriage Restraint Act 2017.

About 650 million women alive today were married before their 18th birthday. Worldwide about 21% of girls are married in childhood. That’s 12 million girls under 18 every year.

Information on child marriage:
According to UNICEF, two-third of girls between the ages of 10-19 in Bangladesh are victims of child marriage.

According to a report published in 2010 by Save the Children, 69% of women in rural Bangladesh are married before the age of 18.
According to the data of the National Girl Advocacy forum, the rate of child marriage in Bangladesh was 64%in 2009, which stood at 66% in 2011.

Child Marriage and Teenage Motherhood:

The marriage age under Bangladesh law is at least 18 for girls and 21 for boys. If below this it is child marriage.
51% of girls are married before the age of 18 and 15.5% by the age of 15 (MICS 2019) report.
28% girls have their first child between the ages of 15 and 19
108 live births per thousand among married girls (15-19) years (BDHS 2018)
Due to poverty, social insecurity, lack of awareness and gender inequality, adolescents are vulnerable to malnutrition, child marriage, unplanned, unexpected and risky pregnancies which increase their risk of death.

Causes of child marriage:

Poverty:

Bangladesh is a poor country, most people who lived in rural area live below the poverty line. The population growth rate is very high in this country. It’s becomes difficult to cover household expenses with one’s earning. Many parents marry their daughters at an early age to reduce expenses and the additional cost of children.

Social Insecurity:

Lack of social security is one of the reasons for child marriage. When the daughter grows up, it becomes a cause of worry for the parents. They think that if they marry, they will be permanently secure.

Lack of education and awareness.

This is the most important reason of child marriage. Proper education system will help in eradicating child marriage from our society. Many families in remote areas are still not aware of sending their children to school.

Those who wish to have child marriage increase the age of the girl in the birth registration by any means in exchange of money. This makes it difficult to take it difficult to take legal action.

In this case Qazi's (Marriage maker) are also responsible and they help the groom and the bride to get married by showing the girl’s age.

Boy’s families usually encourage child marriage by taking advantage of girl’s economic weakness.

Sometimes the rural families tend towards early marriage due to the tendency to marry early. Apart from these notable reasons, child marriage is given for many other reason.

Bad effects of child marriage:

Apart from hindering the progress of woman’s education. The risk of maternal mortality is increasing due to early marriage. A mother dies every 20 minutes trying to become a mother.

A newborn baby dies every hour. Even if the newborn survives, many times he has to face various physical and mental complications.

A minor mother can give birth to a disabled child.

As a result of child marriage, apart from creating fear of divorce, various family disturbances occur.

Child marriage not only harms the individual but also contributes to harm to the family. Society and above all to the state. For example, due to lack of education and health, a young girl is not aware of herself, so it is normal for her to have no idea about family.

Solution Ideas or Ways to prevent child marriage.

Bangladesh Government and Non-Government Organization have already taken important steps to eradicate child marriage. Beside Privet NGO’s foreign donor organization and Foreign NGO’s can play a special role.

A massive publicity / campaign is needed to implement the prevention of child marriage Act.
People can be made aware of the evils of child marriage through Radio, Television and Newspaper.
Village level yard meetings and mother gathering will be fruitful in this regards. If necessary, the administration can be favored to prevent child marriage.
Legislation may be enacted to prevent a marriage registrar from registering a marriage under any circumstance without a birth registration certificate.
Child marriage prevention committee can be formed in every union.
If this subject is included in the textbooks of class 8-10, it will be beneficial.