According to a recent report released by the Ford Foundation, Nigeria has the highest rates of child marriage of all West African countries. Throughout West Africa, nearly 5 million girls between the ages of 15 and 19 are already married. Of the sixteen countries surveyed, Nigerian girls accounted for nearly half of this statistic.
In 2003, the Nigerian government established the Child Rights Act making eighteen the minimum age for marriage, yet over one third of the country’s thirty-six states have failed to implement and enforce this legislation. As a result, child marriage remains a significant problem with nearly 29% (2.5 million) of all Nigerian girls aged 15 to 19 being reported as already married.
“Here, you’re being programmed to think that the ultimate for a woman is marriage and nothing else…The government needs to do a better job with creating awareness about the importance of education for girls” said Amina Hanga, executive secretary at Nigeria’s Isa Wali Empowerment Initiative.
This and other non-profit organizations, like the global partnership Girls Not Brides, struggle to improve these statistics by advocating for the empowerment of women and children through education. Education provides girls with new opportunities and skills that help delay marriage and empower them to make informed decisions about their lives.
Child marriage continues to persist in this region due to a combination of factors that include poverty and increased vulnerability due to crisis or conflict situations. When a family chooses to give a daughter into early marriage, they reduce the financial burden on the family because there will now be one less child in need of food, education and clothing. Many families also see marriage as providing young girls with security and safety in otherwise unstable conditions.
In reality, child marriage poses a grave threat. Girls under the age of 18 are neither emotionally nor physically ready for marriage or motherhood. As a result, child brides lack adequate access to healthcare and face disproportionately high rates of both sexually transmitted diseases and complications during pregnancy and childbirth. Additionally, these girls experience a high risk of social isolation, domestic abuse, lack of education, and poverty.
Understanding these risks, multiple international conventions have declared child marriage to be a violation of human rights because these girls are unable to decide when and whom they will marry. According to both the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, all women have the right to consent to marriage. The problem with early marriage is that children under the age of 18 are not considered mature enough to either make an informed decision or give their consent freely.
Creative Commons Love: Joachim Huber on Flickr.com
Written by Amanda Lubit