All Party Parliamentary Group on
Population, Development and Reproductive Health
Download the report here
A Childhood Lost: A Report on Child Marriage in the UK and the Developing World
From the foreword by Baroness Jenny Tonge:
“Every three seconds, a girl is coerced or forced into marriage, losing her childhood, her dreams and the opportunity to make her own choices about her life and relationships.
These girls are expected to marry early, have children and forget about any life except serving those children, their husbands and families – if they survive long enough to do so. It is usually a grim prospect of suffering until they die.
This is not just bad news for the girls themselves, who often have no education as a consequence. It also means that too many children are born into a world that is already overpopulated and half of the productive population of a developing country cannot participate fully in their societies because they are uneducated and unable to contribute to the workforce. Countries where girls are educated, marry later and have fewer children show higher economic growth and a better standard of living for all.”
Main Recommendations
- National laws and international conventions regarding the rights of the child and the prevention of violence against women must be enforced and new laws passed where they are lacking.
- Governments need to review their policies around minimum age of marriage in order to protect children and ensure gender equality.
- Laws regarding divorce, inheritance and property ownership need to be reformed to protect women and children.
- More needs to be done to end harmful traditional practices associated with child marriage like female genital mutilation and to implement the laws that exist to combat these practices.
- Access to sexual and reproductive healthcare including family planning must be improved so that girls and women, whatever their age or marital status, can make their own choices about when they marry, become pregnant and have children.
- Governments need to improve their registration systems so that births and marriages are properly recorded. This will protect children by clarifying the law and making it more difficult to carry out unregistered religious or community marriages.
- Professionals working with children, including teachers, healthcare workers and social workers, need to be made aware of child and forced marriage, so that they can signpost children at risk to sources of information and support.
- Girls should be able to access education in a safe setting without fear of discrimination or abuse.
- Girls and boys need education and training in sex and relationships that foster autonomy and empower them to make their own informed choices.
- In order to effect long-lasting attitude and behaviour change, communities need to be engaged so that they are aware of the consequences of child marriage.
- Women and girls need shelters and other safe havens to go to when they are at risk of or escaping forced marriages.
- Governments around the world should take responsibility for supporting girls and women who have been subject to violence and coerced sex by providing physical and emotional care, training, education and opportunities to rebuild their lives in safety.
- There needs to be increased and improved cooperation across government departments. Since child marriage abuses human rights, a range of ministries including education, domestic affairs, health, equalities, development and foreign affairs, along with embassies and international corporations, should work together more closely to prevent this abuse of children’s human rights and to protect survivors.
For more on child marriage, see here:
The UNFPA’s Marrying Too Young