Early Marriage Essay -- marriage of children adolescents

azoic conjugal union is the marriage of children and adolescents below the age of 18.CausesAccording to UNICEFs Innocenti Research Centre, the come of marrying girls at a young age is most popular in Sub-Saharan African and South Asia. in that location be specific part of West Africa and East Africa and of South Asia where marriages before puberty atomic number 18 not unusual. However, the Centre also notes that marriage shortly after puberty is common among those living traditional lifestyles in the Middle East, North Africa and other part of Asia. Marriages of fe potent adolescents between sixteen and eighteen are common in parts of Latin America and Eastern Europe.Some are force into this union, others are simply too young to make an informed decision. agree is made by somebody else on the childs behalf. The child does not lease the opportunity to exercise her right to choose. For this reason, archaean marriages are also referred to as forced marriages. In its most uttermost(prenominal) form, forced marriages are the way out of abductions. In Uganda, young girls are abducted and forced to marry senior leadership in the guerrilla movement known as the Lords Resistance Army. The marriages are used as a reward and incentive for male soldiers.There are a number of reasons why tradition of child marriages continues. care of HIV infection has encouraged men in many countries to desire younger partners. Early marriages is one way to ensure that young girls are protected. Families in rural Albania encourage their daughters to marry early to avoid the terror of kidnapping. In conflict torn Somalia, families married their daughters to militia members in rallying for protection for the girl, as healthy as for themselves. Where poverty is acute, early marriage is also seen as a strategy for economic survival. In Iraq, early marriages are on the increase in response to poverty inflicted by the economic sanctions that have been imposed on the country . In situations such(prenominal) as this, the risk of exploitation is great. A recent study of five brusk villages in Egypt, for example, found that young girls were being married off to much older men from the oil rich Middle Eastern countries via brokers. many an(prenominal) girls are forced to marry early suffer from prolonged municipal violence. Furtherto a greater extent, early marriage is often linked to wife abandonment. This plungers young girls into extreme poverty and increase... ... cases of domestic violence were committed against wives who were under the age of 18.Improvements taproom of the practice comes through education of parents and children--married or not--about the dangers of early marriage. UNICEF has launched two programs to confront the problem in South Asia and Africa, the two regions with the highest rates of child marriage in the world. In South Asia, UNICEF runs the Meena Initiative, which educates people about the danger of preferring male babies a nd focuses on the unfair treatment girls receive in the family as well as their lack of access to healthcare and education. The initiative also attempts to rhytidectomy consciousness about harmful traditional practices such as dowry, intimate harassment and early marriage. In Africa, UNICEF has launched a radio program called the Sara puerile Girl Communication Initiative in ten eastern and southern African countries. The program implores its listeners to keep girls in school. It also cover topics such as HIV/AIDS, domestic responsibilities for females, Female Genital Mutilation and early marriage.For more information about UNICEF programs focused on early marriage, visit www.unicef.org