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More than 700 million girls under the age of 18 have been forced into child marriage, an official of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said in an interview with Xinhua, adding that the issue of forced child marriage is complicated.
Laura Laski, UNFPA's chief of sexual and reproductive health, said, "Child marriage (and) sexual violence are very linked."
The linkage between the two doesn't mean that sexual violence is not an issue outside of child marriage, said Laski, who emphasized that girls who've been abused or raped at a young age are susceptible to forced marriage.
The ripest time for a young girl to become a victim of child marriage is right after a girl undergoes puberty and begins menstruation, she said. "This means a young girl is biologically able to have babies."
Thus, these facts make girls very vulnerable to marriage as children, Laski said, pointing to the Central American nation of Guatemala as an example.
ACCESS TO EDUCATION
"In the highlands of Guatemala .. there are a lot of indigenous people and you see a majority of girls leaving school when they turn eleven or twelve years old," Laski said.
At this time, the girls are typically taken out of school to be married, she said, adding that there is an idea that marriage is safer than attending school.
So, "when girls get married as a child against their own will, the first thing that is expected from them is .. a baby," Laski said.
This is difficult for a young girl between 10 to 14 years of age, the UN official said while also pointing to problems with young girls facing sexual abuse and harassment at the same time.
Many times girls are harassed and violated after which they get pregnant.
Therefore, "we have to make sure .. they have a place to go and that they're able to have access to services for emergency contraception, "said Laski.
Even though these dark circumstances exist, Laski said she is still hopeful about the future. "We're happy and we support the countries that .. have identified efforts against child marriage for their (nation's future)."
However, she said, the international community needs to be more proactive in eliminating child marriage and offering education programs for girls.
Girls want to receive an education. Furthermore, allowing all woman access to education will give women power to decide their future and an ability to contribute to society, she said.
Yet, not all people believe that this is good, she said.
People don't expect women to speak up and participate, Laski said, adding that "sometimes to open a space for women to say all of these things is hard."
In the end, UNFPA is advocating for all women, so that women can express themselves, be free and decide what to do with their own bodies.
EMPOWERMENT PROGRAMS
Currently, Laski works with more than 159 UNFPA offices on creating education and empowerment programs for girls involved in sexual violence and pushed into marriages.
Laski, the medical doctor and former member of UNFPA's maternal health thematic fund team, said that UNFPA considers the act of marrying a girl before the age of 18 as rape.
Right now, across the globe there are 250 million girls that are forced into marriage before the age of 15 and 700 million under the age of 18, said a statement released by UNICEF on International Day of the Girl Child.
The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on Dec. 19, 2011, declaring Oct. 11 as International Day of the Girl Child, with the mission to advocate for the protection of girls from acts of aggression.
