Child brides are victims of rights abuse, and the world must put a stop to it
Kanie Siu calls for a pledge to eliminate child marriage, as it not only deprives girls of their rights to health and education, but can prove life-threatening for underage mothers and their infants
In August, I visited Ha Giang, Vietnam, where nearly half of the girls are child brides, due to poverty and social norms. I met Bang, a 16-year-old mother of two, a school dropout at 12 and pregnant at 14. “I didn’t have any choice but to get married,” Bang said bluntly. Sadly, marriage did not give her a way out of poverty. Without an education, Bang can only spend her days taking care of the family.
What follows child marriage is early pregnancy, which can be life-threatening for both mother and child. A World Health Organisation report says complications in pregnancy are the leading cause of death globally among females aged 15 to 19. Also, the infant mortality rate is 50 per cent higher than that for mothers over 20.
Cau, 16, never went to school. Married at 15, she gave birth soon after, but her newborn contracted tetanus. Lacking proper maternal knowledge, Cau failed to take her son to the doctor, and he died. Stories such as these highlight the pressing need to stop the harmful practice of child marriage.
