Child marriage has skyrocketed during COVID-19, with a new World Vision report showing the tragic cost of the pandemic on girls in the world's most vulnerable communities.
The impacts of the pandemic have fueled a doubling of child marriages in some communities* and have sparked the largest increase in child marriages in 25 years, with an extra four million girls potentially married by 2023 in the aftermath of COVID-19.
The shocking figures, revealed in World Vision's Breaking the Chain report, are the result of a pandemic-fueled loss of livelihoods, as well as soaring poverty and reduced access to education and support services.
"It is heart-breaking that every year 12 million girls are married before their 18th birthday," says Mercy Jumo, World Vision Australia's senior policy advisor on Child Rights.
"Every one of these is a tragedy with far-reaching effects – empty seats in classrooms, girls treated as a commodity, lost economic and human potential. We know that economic desperation within families, poverty and harmful attitudes are some of the factors that drive child marriage, particularly in the most fragile places in the world. The pandemic and resulting lockdowns have increased the pressure on families, threatening girls' rights to live a safe childhood and realise their potential."
Those in power need to take action to protect girls in vulnerable communities, Ms Jumo said.
"We can't afford to wait – more futures will be ruined unless crucial changes are made to protect young girls," she said.
"Governments, donors and partners must do more to ensure laws that protect children are upheld and to design a robust global response to end child marriage."
World Vision Australia is calling for a child rights unit to be set up in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to ensure Australia's aid program addresses child rights challenges, such as like child marriage.
"Right now, children aren't a focus of Australia's aid program," Ms Jumo said.
"We're calling on the Australian Government to join child-focused organisations, like World Vision, to create a next-generation aid program that puts children at the centre of development and humanitarian assistance to break the intergenerational cycle of poverty."
World Vision is urging the international community to work together to raise the minimum age of marriage to 18 and ensure child-marriage prevention laws are present and implemented.
Research shows delaying marriage and keeping girls in school is key to their healthy development and future economic opportunities.
"Women and girls are powerful agents of change in ending child marriage," Ms Buzducea said.
"Dola is 16, and with her friends has saved hundreds of girls from being married off in Bangladesh alone. These young female leaders are fighting for the rights of their peers, and in doing so, are breaking the chain of vulnerability and inequity that child marriage causes."
"Child marriage is a war for us, and we are warriors. One day we believe we will win." – Dola, 16, Secretary of the National Child Forum, Bangladesh, and World Vision Young Leader.
