Preventing & Eliminating Early, Child & Forced Marriage

Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has released a report outlining some of the factors that contribute to early, child and forced marriage and analyses existing measures to address and eliminate it.  The report states that “empirical evidence shows poverty and insecurity as one of the root causes of child, early and forced marriage. Although the proportion of child brides has generally decreased over the last 30 years, child marriage remains common in rural areas and among the poorest communities. In many communities, marriage is often perceived as a way to ensure the economic subsistence of girls and women with no autonomous access to productive resources and living in situations of extreme poverty. Marrying children can also have economic advantages, such as lower dowries for younger brides. Families may agree to the temporary marriage of their daughter in exchange for financial gain, also referred to as a “contractual marriage”. Poverty may also encourage women to marry foreign nationals for financial security, a practice which increases opportunities for trafficking in women.”  Read more…