Ethiopias progress is strong compared to other countries in eastern and southern africa. Girl child marriage, a formal union of a female before age 18, and undernutrition remain common in subsaharan africa. Child marriage impedes girls education the education a girl receives is the strongest predictor of the age she will marry, according to icrw analysis in 18 of the 20 countries with the highest prevalence of child marriage. Pdf marriage is one of the important social institutions and it is a means of establishing a family through which the society perpetuates. This october will mark one year into the comparative young marriage and parenthood study ymaps that brings together research from young lives ethiopia, peru and the states of andhra pradesh and telangana in india and child frontiers zambia to generate new evidence about what it is like to be an adolescent or young person who is married, in an informal union or a young parent in these. A guide for global policy action makes a strong case for international action, and strengthens the advocacy efforts of development practitioners and womens and childrens rights activists to end child marriage. A profile of progress in ethiopia child marriage in the global development agenda achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls target 5. Ending child marriage will help break the intergenerational cycle of poverty by allowing girls and women to participate more fully in society. Download the effect of multimedia on child marriage in north ethiopia pdf our services was launched using a want to function as a full on the internet electronic.
Call to action we must do away with child marriage. Child custody under the ethiopian legal system a brief note on the provisions of ethiopian legal system governing child custody. As a result of early marriage, ethiopia has one of the highest adolescent fertility rates in subsaharan. Aug 27, 2019 child marriage is the formal or informal marriage of a child under the age of 18 most often the marriage of a young girl to an older boy or man. In ethiopia, two in every five girls are married before their 18th birthday and nearly one in five girls marries before the age of 15. Ethiopia is the site of some of the most abusive marital practices, such as marriage by abduction and forced unions between cousins abusuma. This study uses age discontinuities in the degree of exposure to a law that raised the legal age of marriage for women from 15 to 18 years in some regions of ethiopia to provide the first evidence on a the beneficial effects on child marriage and infant mortality of laws that ban underage marriage and on b the causal effect of delaying womens age at cohabitation on infant. The interplay between community, household and child level. Benefits of peace come into focus for ethiopia, eritrea. When girls are allowed to be girls, everybody wins. Child marriage remains a deeply rooted tradition in ethiopian communities. Many girls who are married off before they turn 18 or are forced into early marriages are made to leave school, depriving them of their right to education and future independence. The end child marriage programme ecmp, or finote hiwot pathway to life, began in march 2012. Child marriage prevalence is the percentage of women aged 20 to 24 years who.
Fassil stated that problems of child prostitution in ethiopia are further aggravated by the negative attitude the general public and different sectors of society have towards these children. Child marriage briefing ethiopia population council. Evidence from ethiopia 2 young lives policy brief 21 july 2014 child marriage is still the norm in ethiopia where the most recent national figures suggest that more than half 58% of. In simple terms, child marriage is the marriage of a person aged before majority. The the causes, consequences and solutions to causes, consequences and solutions tocauses, consequences and solutions to forced forced forced child marriage child marriage child marriage in the developing worldin the developing world testimony submitted to u. Presentation includes research in ethiopia on the connection between child marriage, couple communication, and intimate partner violence. The national alliance to end child marriage in ethiopia by 2025 was spearheaded by the ministry of children, women and youth affairs to identify the drivers of child marriage across ethiopia and to locate examples of best practice.
Addressing early marriage of young and adolescent girls. The ethiopian society is quiet conservative and traditional society. The legal age of marriage is 18 for both males and females,16 but it is widely ignored. Child marriages in india the red elephant foundation december 20 e 4 introduction child marriage refers to the marriage of a child younger than 18 years old,1 in accordance to article 1 of the convention on the right of the child. The practice of child marriage in ethiopia has shown significant decline in recent years.
Child marriage and psychological wellbeing in niger and ethiopia. Child marriage is still a massive problem in many developing countries. Addressing early marriage of young and adolescent girls girls in many resourcepoor countries often have little choice about whom or when they marry. In order to contextualise our findings on child marriage we begin with a brief overview of the progress that has been made to date and challenges still facing.
This brochure explores the data and statistics behind those stories. Findings from the study are referred to in this report. Research has consistently documented the adverse economic, social, demographic and reproductive health consequences of child marriage for child brides, their families and their communities 1,2,3,4,5,6,7. A number of recent reports on child marriage deserve mention, as they offer new data, summarize the range of programs, or frame the issue in new ways. October 2005 and the newly adopted criminal law of ethiopia. John, jeffrey edmeades and lydia murithi abstract background. Slides were presented by jeffrey edmeades at the gbv task force event child, early and forced marriage and intimate partner violence on march 6, 2017. Pdf child marriage in ethiopia a matter of concern i. Despite an understanding of the circumstances of child marriage, including how it limits agency and erodes childhood support systems, not much is known about the relationship between child marriage and mental.
Without an education, they will repeat the cycle of poverty. A baseline child marriage prevalence rate of 26% was assumed, based on the average of the northern regions unicef et al, 2019. Ethiopia is one of the 41 countries where early marriage had been. Download pdf the effect of multimedia on child marriage. The issue is more concentrated in countries of sub saharan africa and south asia. House of representatives human rights commissions human rights commission. Ethiopia has one of the most severe crises of child marriage in the world today. Child marriage and psychological wellbeing in niger and ethiopia neetu a. The causes, consequences and solutions to forced child. Patterning of child marriage in ethiopia child marriage under 18 years is outlawed in ethiopia and awareness of the law is increasing, but millions of girls remain at risk.
Child marriage and psychological wellbeing in niger and. A research done by the usaid in 2012 depicted that child marriage is inversely correlated with education, maternal health, poverty reduction and other prowomen issues. In 2017 in ethiopia, 40% of girls are married off before 18 years old. Many study respondentsgirls, parents, and officialsbelieve that marriage after the age of 15 is no longer early. The causes, consequences and solutions to forced child marriage. Independent verification and evaluation of the end child marriage programme ethiopia 5722001 dfid 2 executive summary background dfids end child marriage programme ecmp is a. Girls most at risk each dot represents a country in every region, the poor are most at risk of child marriage percentage of women aged 20 to 49 years who were married or in union before age 18, by place of residence child marriage is most common in rural areas 100 80.
Girls who end up as brides at a tender age are coerced into having children while they are children themselves. Ending child marriage in a generation ford foundation. In terms of scholarship and international attention, the region is often overshadowed by the child marriage hotspots of subsaharan africa and southeast asia. According to an assessment conducted by unicef in 2005, among women ages 15 to 24, 48 percent were married before the age of 18 in south asia, 42 percent in africa, and 29 percent in latin america. Accordingly, the impacts of child marriage in ethiopia have been discussed below. Ethiopias approach to child marriage is closely linked to its work to end fgm and. Girl child marriage, socioeconomic status, and undernutrition. The common conceptualization of this practice as an outcome undermines the nuanced and sometimes protracted decisionmaking process of whom and when to marry. Registration of marriages of religious and customary marriages. The aim of this study is to establish the extent to which girl child marriage contributes to socioeconomic status and underweight, a measure of undernutrition, among adult women. Evidence from ethiopia young lives policy brief 21 july 2014 revised december 2014 child marriage and female circumcision are linked practices that are prevalent in subsaharan africa and common. Mar 06, 2017 presentation includes research in ethiopia on the connection between child marriage, couple communication, and intimate partner violence.
October marked one year into the young marriage and parenthood study ymaps that brings together research from young lives ethiopia, peru and the indian states of andhra pradesh and telangana and child frontiers zambia ymaps is generating new evidence about what it is like to be an adolescent or young person who is married, in an informal union or a young parent in these settings. The project has enabled more than 11,000 girls to stay in school and delay marriage. Child marriage continues to be highly prevalent in africa, where almost 40% of girls are married before age 18. Aug 24, 2018 early marriage of girls marriage child health. Child marriage is the formal or informal marriage of a child under the age of 18 most often the marriage of a young girl to an older boy or man. By sending them to school and away from child marriage, poverty, trafficking and genderbased violence were creating a safe passage from childhood to adulthood for a group of girls in ethiopia. The monetized benefits used in the study, derived from avoiding child marriage can be linked to four of the five the impact domains of the wodon et al. Though botswana has low incidents of child marriages, the practise is reported to be rampant among the zezuru, basarwa, parts of the kgalagadi communities and in north western botswana botswana marriage act. As one can logically assume, the issue of child custody is raised when a marriage, out of which a child has been conceived or recognized by law, is dissolved by divorce. Ethiopia is the 16th highest nation in the world for child marriage. For this reason, several womens right violations such as fgm, rape, abduction and early marriage are quiet common particularly in the rural areas. Though botswana has low incidents of child marriages, the practise is reported to be rampant among the zezuru, basarwa, parts of the kgalagadi communities and in north western botswana. The objective was to understand the present situation of child marriage in the country and identify causes of, and factors associated with, child marriage. In terms of scholarship and international attention, the region is often overshadowed by the child marriage hotspots of.
This work is a result of a series of technical consultations on child marriage. Nkosazana dlaminizuma, chairperson, auc at the international conference on family planning, addis ababa, november 20 african union. The first ever ethiopian girl summit took place in addis ababa in june 2015. Empowered and educated girls are better able to nourish and care for their children, leading to healthier, smaller families. Ethiopia is also a signatory but not ratified the protocol for the african human and peoples right on the rights of women. The programme was managed through a consortium led by maxwell stamp plc msp1. If one critical looks the consequences of early marriage, it is worst in its disgusted form. Ending child marriage in a generation page 3 these programs have taught us a lot about where we should be focusing our efforts to prevent, delay, and mitigate child marriage.
Ending child marriage united nations population fund. According to the most recent demographic and health survey data from 2011, the median age at which ethiopian women marry is 16. Findings are from the tesfa project funded by icrw. Early marriage of girls marriage child marriage across ethiopia, b the impacts of child marriage, c the national drivers of child marriage, and d current practices aimed at the abandonment of child marriage. The importance of child protection 1 structure of the manual 2 how to use this manual 2 section 1. With breakneck speed, ethiopia and eritrea have resolved the decadeslong conflict that had come to define the east african nations tumultuous 25year relationship. In ethiopias amhara region, girls face tremendous challenges 43% of girls marry before age 15 and more than 45% of 15 to 19 year olds cannot read at all. Ethiopia, too, has historically had very high rates of child marriage, particularly in areas such as amhara, where the child marriage rate as recently as a decade ago rivaled that in niger, though available data suggest a significant recent decline in prevalence. Increased the age of marriage to 21 without consent.