WUNRN
Human Rights Watch - http://www.hrw.org/news/2015/06/09/witness-regretting-marrying-young-daughter-ali-s-story
CHILD MARRIAGE IN BANGLADESH REGRET IN MARRYING OFF A
YOUNG DAUGHTER
Direct Link to Full 134-Page Report: http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/bangladesh0615_ForUpload_0_0.pdf
Marry Before Your House is Swept Away
- Child Marriage in Bangladesh
This 134-page report is based on more than a hundred interviews conducted
across the country, most of them with married girls, some as young as age 10.
It documents the factors driving child marriage in Bangladesh including
poverty, natural disasters, lack of access to education, social pressure,
harassment, and dowry. Human Rights Watch also details the damage that child
marriage does to the lives of girls and their families in Bangladesh, including
the discontinuation of secondary education, serious health consequences including
death as a result of early pregnancy, abandonment, and domestic violence from
spouses and in-laws.
By Emma Daly June 9, 2015
Ali Ahmad and his wife, Noorjann, are
illiterate: We can barely sign our names. But they believe in the power
of education Ali works long hours as a rickshaw driver while his wife labors
at home, and they spend a weeks wages each month to send their two younger
daughters to school.
Rahena, 15, and Suma, 9, perch on low
stools reading to one another outside the family home as Ali looks on, cuddling
his grandson. The girls are proud of their learning and happy to show it off to
visitors. Theyve stayed home to meet us today because Ali believes our visit
as part of a reporting trio to make a video about the curse of child marriage
in Bangladesh is an educational opportunity for them.
Their older sister, Fatema, didnt have the
same chance: she finished Class 7, at around 12 or 13, but was then married off
by her parents because they were poor and didnt know any better, Ali says.
Its a dark fate for many: Bangladesh leads the world in the rate of girls
under 15 years of age who marry 29 percent, according to a UNICEF study
which means hundreds of thousands of young girls each year find themselves
forced into marriage.
Child marriage in Bangladesh is driven by poverty, often exacerbated by
natural disasters. River erosion has washed away land and homes,
prompting some parents to marry off their young daughters before losing their
livelihoods and others to do so because they feel they can no longer feed their
children.
Almost all girls we met who married very
young dropped out of school, and they often faced health problems as a result
of early pregnancy. They frequently confronted abuse and violence within their
new home and have little hope of escaping a life of poverty.
Ali now regrets Fatemas early marriage
he says he had no idea at the time that it was illegal under Bangladeshi law,
which prohibits girls under 18 and boys under 21 from marrying. However, the
ban is rarely enforced. Ali has since learnt about the risks to child brides,
and has become an activist on the issue.
I will not marry off my other daughters
before the age of 18, he told us. If I can provide for my daughters
education she can get a job and she can live well.
But its life on a knife-edge: I have to
take loans, and when I do, the interest starts to go up, he said. It keeps
increasing and I never run out of loans. I am always living on credit. But
still I would say, no matter how hard I have to work, if Allah wants my children
will do well when they continue their education it will be good for us. That is
why despite all the hardship I am continuing their education.
Sumas schooling costs her parents about
600 or 700 taka per month (about $7 or $8), and she receives a monthly
government subsidy of 100 takas. Expenses for Suma and Rahena, who gets no
government help these days, include notebooks and pens, exam fees and snacks.
Bangladesh is a development success story
by some measures, having significantly increased access to education for girls
and boys by providing free primary and secondary schooling. But the government
should do more to subsidize books, uniforms and school supplies that can make
school unaffordable for the poorest families, and should target assistance
toward them. That would improve access to education and remove a key reason for
parents to marry off their daughters.
Alis three sons all completed school and now hold
white-collar jobs. My parents worked much harder than us, Im doing a little
better with the training that I got. Secondly, my children are a little better
off than me
my sons dont have to drive a rickshaw, Ali said. And given the
social prejudices that can hold girls in Bangladesh back, he added, I have
realized that it is more important for my daughters, than my sons, to get
educated.