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India urged to tackle world's largest number of child marriages
ABC Radio Australia - December 16, 2013
They say the prevailing problem of child marriage is also responsible for the poor health and childbirth records of the country.
In the western reach of India's Rajasthan state, figures indicate that every fourth girl is getting married before attaining the age of 18.
Krinna Shah, a campaigner for child rights, says the serious issue spills beyond the issue of women's rights.
"Girls and boys both are being affected, rural and urban are both being affected," she said. "Increasingly boys are also getting married at a younger age, so it is a pan-India problem and its base is in child protection."
While Niger, the Central African Republic and Malawi have higher rates of child marriage, India's population means it has the largest number of child brides and grooms in the world.
UNICEF says 15 per cent of girls in rural areas across the country are married before 13, and more than half have their first pregnancy between 15 and 19.
Marriage is tied into may traditional rituals in places like Rajasthan – such as the Mausar ritual, where marriage is used to turn the sorrow of a family member's death to joy. In it, a marriage must be solemnized within 13 days of the death of a family member – even if those being married are not of marriageable age.
Rights campaigners say the fallout from child marriage continues throughout a girl's life, with forced initiation into sex and on-going sexual violence, leading to early and unplanned pregnancy.
Razia Ismail, from the Indian Alliance for Child Rights, says this puts her life or that of her child's at risk. "I see it as a chronic and continuingly serious problem," she said.
"The state does not seem confident to move to ban it – it's like child labor, you want to discourage it, you make it illegal...you do various things but you don't actually abolish it. The same [thing happens] for child marriage."
Ms Ismail says it's robbing young boys and girls of the chance to develop as people. "They are already put into roles that are socially sanctioned, rather than roles that would be their natural choice," she said.
"This is too early – too early in the formation of your life for you to be forced into a social role into which you are actually put into an adult social function, both sexually and socially."
In some pockets of the country, a campaign against child marriage is gaining ground. Shaheen is a worker at a counselling centre for under-privileged children, where young girls are being taught about child marriage
"The family mistakenly perceives that it is a secure thing to marry a girl at a younger age, so that she can easily socialize in a different family," she said. "Also that is the security of the girl, seeing the circumstances and the safe environment, the financial crunch at home and pressure from society."
Some of the girls in their teens say they are more aware of what marrying young means for their lives. "I know child marriage is rampant because some families perceive having too many children as an economic burden – that is bad," Afsana, 15, said.
Her friend Naazmi is also shocked. "It is unfortunate that a girl is denied the chance to lead a full life," she said. "After marriage, both the boy and girl can have health problems and they don't know how to deal with the situation."
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