One in four girls and adolescents in the region married or had an early union before turning 18, showed a new inter-institutional study released by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).
The child marriage “It is a violation of the human rights of children and adolescents, which disproportionately and persistently affects girls,” stated the study in which the United Nations Children’s Fund, UN Women and the Fund participated. of Population of the United Nations.
Its prevalence in the region has not changed in the last 25 years and “eliminating this harmful practice is a goal to be met in the region, central to achieving gender equality and sustainable development,” ECLAC stressed when disclosing the study at its headquarters in this capital.
Without actions and investments to attack the roots of the problem, Latin America and the Caribbean will have, by the year 2030, the highest percentage of child marriage, behind only Sub-Saharan Africa, warned the document.
The percentages of girls and adolescents affected vary, from less than 10% in Jamaica to more than 30% in the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guyana and Belize, although these numbers could be higher due to insufficient data on early marriages and unions, especially in the Caribbean.
Child marriage is prohibited currently in countries such as Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Belize, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic (last country to legislate the ban, in 2021) and Trinidad and Tobago .
In others marriage is still allowed from the age of 16 with the authorization of parents, legal representatives or a judge. This is the case of Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Dominica, Cayman Islands, Tuscas and Caicos Islands, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.
And as “most worrying” the study qualifies the situation of countries where it is allowed to marry before the age of 16 for “justified reasons”: Anguilla, Argentina, Colombia, Cuba, Guyana and Saint Kitts and Nevis.
Child, early and forced marriages and unions, are “phenomena related to gender inequalities, violence, poverty, school dropout, teenage pregnancy, and inadequate legal frameworks and limited public policies, which put the present and future of girls and adolescents at risk.”
The analysis maintains that these unions disproportionately affect girls and adolescents in rural areas and households living in poverty and with less access to education. And in some countries, belonging to indigenous peoples is also associated with higher prevalence.
Son harmful practices, by deepening gender inequalities and in particular reproducing the unjust sexual division of labor from very early childhood.
Girls and adolescents who are married or in unions double at least the number of hours of time dedicated to unpaid work –such as domestic work and time dedicated to care-, in relation to their peers who are children or adolescents who are married or in unions.
In some cases they reach up to fivefold (Ecuador, Guatemala) and up to eightfold (Dominican Republic) the hourly load. In three countries with available information (Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico), girls and adolescents who are married or in a union dedicate more than 40 hours a week to this type of work.
Child marriages and early unions expose girls to teenage pregnancies. Figures for the region indicate that the majority of women who married during their childhood gave birth before their 18th birthday.
Eight out of 10 did so before reaching the age of 20 and in most cases it was unwanted pregnancies.
The study maintains that the existence of some initiatives and public programs is insufficient in the face of the seriousness and consequences of this problem, and Very little progress has been made in the generation of public policies adequate and comprehensive and with budget allocation to eradicate this harmful practice.
For this reason, it proposes a series of recommendations, such as promoting political commitment at the highest level, making the situation of child marriages and unions visible, and rendering accounts of the commitments assumed in this matter.
It is proposed to continue advancing in the changes of the legal frameworks; guarantee the access of girls and adolescents to free education, universal, gender sensitive and culturally appropriate, without any type of discrimination; and break the “statistical silence” on the matter.
https://ipsnoticias.net/
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One in four girls and adolescents in the region married or had an early union before turning 18, showed a new inter-institutional study released by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).
The child marriage “It is a violation of the human rights of children and adolescents, which disproportionately and persistently affects girls,” stated the study in which the United Nations Children’s Fund, UN Women and the Fund participated. of Population of the United Nations.
Its prevalence in the region has not changed in the last 25 years and “eliminating this harmful practice is a goal to be met in the region, central to achieving gender equality and sustainable development,” ECLAC stressed when disclosing the study at its headquarters in this capital.
Without actions and investments to attack the roots of the problem, Latin America and the Caribbean will have, by the year 2030, the highest percentage of child marriage, behind only Sub-Saharan Africa, warned the document.
The percentages of girls and adolescents affected vary, from less than 10% in Jamaica to more than 30% in the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guyana and Belize, although these numbers could be higher due to insufficient data on early marriages and unions, especially in the Caribbean.
Child marriage is prohibited currently in countries such as Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Belize, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic (last country to legislate the ban, in 2021) and Trinidad and Tobago .
In others marriage is still allowed from the age of 16 with the authorization of parents, legal representatives or a judge. This is the case of Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Dominica, Cayman Islands, Tuscas and Caicos Islands, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.
And as “most worrying” the study qualifies the situation of countries where it is allowed to marry before the age of 16 for “justified reasons”: Anguilla, Argentina, Colombia, Cuba, Guyana and Saint Kitts and Nevis.
Child, early and forced marriages and unions, are “phenomena related to gender inequalities, violence, poverty, school dropout, teenage pregnancy, and inadequate legal frameworks and limited public policies, which put the present and future of girls and adolescents at risk.”
The analysis maintains that these unions disproportionately affect girls and adolescents in rural areas and households living in poverty and with less access to education. And in some countries, belonging to indigenous peoples is also associated with higher prevalence.
Son harmful practices, by deepening gender inequalities and in particular reproducing the unjust sexual division of labor from very early childhood.
Girls and adolescents who are married or in unions double at least the number of hours of time dedicated to unpaid work –such as domestic work and time dedicated to care-, in relation to their peers who are children or adolescents who are married or in unions.
In some cases they reach up to fivefold (Ecuador, Guatemala) and up to eightfold (Dominican Republic) the hourly load. In three countries with available information (Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico), girls and adolescents who are married or in a union dedicate more than 40 hours a week to this type of work.
Child marriages and early unions expose girls to teenage pregnancies. Figures for the region indicate that the majority of women who married during their childhood gave birth before their 18th birthday.
Eight out of 10 did so before reaching the age of 20 and in most cases it was unwanted pregnancies.
The study maintains that the existence of some initiatives and public programs is insufficient in the face of the seriousness and consequences of this problem, and Very little progress has been made in the generation of public policies adequate and comprehensive and with budget allocation to eradicate this harmful practice.
For this reason, it proposes a series of recommendations, such as promoting political commitment at the highest level, making the situation of child marriages and unions visible, and rendering accounts of the commitments assumed in this matter.
It is proposed to continue advancing in the changes of the legal frameworks; guarantee the access of girls and adolescents to free education, universal, gender sensitive and culturally appropriate, without any type of discrimination; and break the “statistical silence” on the matter.
https://ipsnoticias.net/
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