Child Marriage

Every year there are 5 million girls married
under the age of 15. Child Marriage exists

around the world. In South Asia, Sub-Saharan
Africa, the Middle East and North Africa.

It's across regions, it's across cultures,
it's across religions. Child is an abuse of

human rights. Girls are married at an age
in which they are supposed to be in school.

They are supposed to be protected. And they
are called to be playing roles of adults,

and they are girls. When I was 8 years old
and my sister was 10 years old, my uncle came

to our grandfather's place and he told him,
I think now these girls are big enough for

circumcision. So, you know, you first have
to be circumcised for you to get married.

We managed to escape for the first time. And
then, my uncle came. We were beaten and all

that and then we had to tell him, uncle we
promise that next time we are not going to

run away. These children who have to sleep
with old men, don't even know what they're

going to be doing in bed. And it is vicious.Traditionally,
culturally, it is accepted, especially in

the rural areas. And also because of poverty.
Poverty is the main reason for early marriage.

When the family is very poor and they have
many children, boys and girls, they prefer

to send some of the female from the house
to another family.For the individual girl,

it can be a time when her life changes dramatically.
But when you magnify that across a whole country,

you can see the impact it has at a macro level.
When girls are marrying below the age of 15,

they are interrupting their education too
soon, they are reducing their economic potential

in perpetuity, they are at much greater risk
of dying in childbirth, of their infant dying

in the first year of life, and are going to
experience higher lifetime fertility and greater

rates of poverty, that magnified across the
country really perpetuates a cycle of poverty

for these countries.
Issues related to human security, issues like

child marriage, are simply not soft issues.
They are issues that can affect the stability

of countries, they are issues that can affect
the economic development of these countries.

They are every bit as dangerous as wars over
natural resources or wars that result from

cultural differences. We as a global community
not only have a moral interest in protecting

young girls in particular but we have our
own security interest at heart.

If you care about economic development, you
care about investing in women in girls, you

care about reducing maternal mortality and
infant mortality, you have to look at child

marriage as a driver of all of these things.
The evidence shows us, and common sense would

show us as well, that education can delay
and even prevent child marriage. It can raise

incomes and it certainly can improve health.
(4:30)There are a number of ways that the

international community has sought in the
past to address isues like child marriage.

Frequently, we adopt sanctions. We've also
seen situations where we try to name and shame.

In other situations we try to address it through
general economic development approaches, through

girls' empowerment and girls' education. And
then there are other situations where you

want to act with local actors, whether those
are legislators or government officials or

traditional leaders. And what we've found
all around the world is that empowering those

individuals within their own societies who
can speak to their counter parts has been

by far the most effective approach.
You don't just empower them by telling them

this is bad. (5:19)You need to target decision
makers, what we call the cultural elders.

We need to involve the young men because they
are the future husbands of these girls, they

are the ones who are marrying them. Everyone
needs to get informed, and let the decision

come from them.
(5:40) it is not a disease, child marriage.

It's a social condition. We are not talking
about Polio, here. We are talking about social

engineering that will require many, many things
in place to really eradicate this. I think

that it can be done within a generation.
(6:05) The issue of child marriage has been

elevated in recent years both in terms of
U.S. foreign policy and on the world stage.

And at the country level I think we are also
seeing signs of progress. So for example,

take a country like Ethiopia where you have
a government that has actually committed to

addressing this issue.
(6:29) One day, if I get a girl, I think she's

really going to enjoy all the rights I didn't
enjoy. She's going to go to school, definitely

she's not going to get circumcised, she's
not going to get married. Well, if she wants

to get married it's fine, if she doesn't want
to get married, that's it. I can't really

force her. She's going to decide for herself
what she wants.