“In some of our communities, when a girl starts showing signs of maturity she becomes the focus in that community and the next thing to happen is to initiate her in the secret society without even asking her consent and finally giving her hand in marriage to whoever her family pleases. They don’t consider the age. All they know is that their child is well matured and should be married. Sometimes the men they get married to are much older than their parents in fact, but as tradition demands they just have to obey. Often and again girl children are often forced to marry to chiefs especially if they are beautiful and reside in a village.”


Konima, aged 18, Sierra Leone

“To stop this inhuman attitude towards girls, there should be stringent laws against the practice of child marriages, and both the governments and the civil societies should initiate awareness raising campaigns at every community on gender equity and the evil consequences of child marriages.”


Savitha, aged 14, India

Child marriage is defined as ”any marriage carried out below the age of 18 years before the girl is physically, psychologically and physiologically ready to shoulder the responsibilities of marriage and child bearing“.

The practice is most common in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, but also occurs in other parts of the world. The numbers of girls who are married are difficult to estimate as so many marriages are not registered, but more than 100 million girls under 18, some as young as 12, are expected to marry over the next decade. The numbers of boys who marry under 18 are much lower.

A number of international human rights instruments cover early marriage. In addition, most countries have officially declared 18 as the minimum legal age of marriage. But these laws are rarely applied, and few prosecutions are ever brought against those who break the law. In some cases, the only outcome of a lawsuit would in any case declare the marriage invalid, which would leave the young wife with little or no legal protection.

Recent findings from UNFPA and the Population Council show that married girls:

Are likely to have less education and fewer schooling opportunities than unmarried girls
Have less mobility than unmarried girls or older married women
Have less household and economic power than older married women
Have less exposure to the media than unmarried girls
Have limited social networks
May be at greater risk of gender-based violence than women who marry later
Face greater reproductive health risks than unmarried women and married young women who have already had a child.

Parents may marry their daughter at a young age because it is customary, but also simply because they cannot afford to keep her, and feel that marriage to an older man who has money will give her a better life.

A study of five very poor villages in Egypt found young girls being married to much older men from other, oil-rich Middle Eastern countries using marriage brokers. In West Africa, a UNICEF study shows that poverty is encouraging early marriage even among groups that do not normally practise it. In Eastern Africa, it is seen as an option for girls orphaned by AIDS.

Once married, a girl is seen as being protected from harm – in Northern Uganda, young girls are married to militiamen for precisely this reason. In Afghanistan, the uncertainty of war has also led to increasing numbers being married early.

Lalmuni’s story
Marriage in Nepal is a family affair. When 14 year-old Lalmuni’s parents decided she should be married, she knew it would be the end of her education. She was also worried about becoming pregnant and giving birth at such a young age. But her parents were adamant: the marriage would go ahead.

In desperation, Lalmuni took her problem to her ‘Child Club’, one of 600 such clubs around the country. Her friends decided to meet Lalmuni’s parents and to persuade them to

“My husband and I didn’t want our daughters to be circumcised, but I knew they would be bullied and ostracized if they were not. I felt I had no choice. Everyone would know if they had not had it done, and if they came too near a compound where the circumcision was being performed, they could be brought in and circumcised then and there against their will.”


Woman in the Gambia

About 140 million girls have undergone female genital cutting and two million are subjected to it every year. Several basic human rights are violated by the procedure of female genital cutting, primarily the right of physical integrity, the right to freedom from violence and discrimination, and in most severe cases, the right of life.

Female genital cutting (FGC), often referred to as female genital mutilation or female circumcision, is an operation to remove part or all of a girl’s external genital organs. It is performed on infants and on adult women but mostly on girls between the ages of four and 12. There is a growing tendency to perform female genital cutting on younger and younger girls.

It is practised in about 28 countries in Africa and some minority groups in Asia. In some countries, like Somalia and Guinea, 98 per cent of women have undergone female genital cutting. In others, like the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, it affects only five per cent of women. There are also a number of immigrant women in Europe, Canada, and the United States who have undergone FGC.

Female genital cutting is a traditional practice that is believed to keep women chaste and make girls marriageable. If a girl is not cut, her future prospects as a wife and mother are in jeopardy. One woman in a village in Egypt was asked why people supported the practice. She said: “It is a norm that has to be fulfilled. The girl must be circumcised to protect her honour and the family’s honour, especially now that girls go to universities outside the village, and may be exposed to lots of intimidating situations.”

FGC is an irreversible act which violates the rights of girls and women and is an infringement of their right to physical integrity. It often leads to a wide range of complications. While the procedure is being performed it involves severe pain and a risk of haemorrhage that can lead to shock and even the death of the girl involved. There are also reports of abscesses, ulcers, delayed healing, septicemia, tetanus, and gangrene.

Long-term complications include urinary infections; obstruction of menstrual flow leading to frequent reproductive tract infections and infertility; and prolonged and obstructed labour. One study, carried out by the World Health Organisation involving 30,000 African women, found that excised women were 31 per cent more likely to have a caesarean delivery, had a 66 per cent higher chance of having a baby that needed to be revived and were 55 per cent more likely to have a child who died before or after birth

Circumcision celebrations in the GambiaIt always happens on a Monday. On the Sunday, the drumming and dancing go on all night. The mother of one of the little girls, aged six, cradles her child’s head gently on her lap and fans her against the heat. The baby and five girls are spoiled and feted, given new dresses. The mothers tell the children – those who are old enough to enjoy stories – that where they are going there is a tree which has money instead of leaves.

But at the heart of the party, as at the centre of all good stories, there is pain. For the little girls are going to be ‘circumcised’. In her compound, where only the girls and their grandmothers are able to enter, the circumciser, ngaman, will take a razor, and cut off the children’s clitorises and labia minora with a razor blade.

In many countries, FGC is considered to be an important part of culture, and attempts by outsiders to come in and ban the practice have been seen as an attack on culture or rel

Global statistics paint a bleak picture of the challenges girls face, growing up in the poorest parts of the world:

Girls have the same rights as their brothers, yet they are discriminated against even before they are born
Sixty-two million girls are not in primary school
Over 900 million girls and women are living on less than a dollar a day
About 450 million women suffer from stunted growth as a result of being poorly fed in childhood
Teenage girls account for nearly half of victims of sexual assault worldwide.*
68,000 teenage girls die from unsafe abortions every year
About 140 million girls have undergone female genital cutting and two million are subjected to it every year.
More than 100 million girls under 18, some as young as 12, are expected to marry over the next decade.
62% more young women are living with HIV/AIDS than men
Two thirds of teenagers newly infected with HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa are female*

* teenagers between 15-19 years of age.