Child marriage in the USA

We know it’s happening, and there are safeguarding units dedicated to preventing it, and all forms of human trafficking.

In the US it’s fucking legal. Massive difference.

No not countries like USA- like Pakistan, where children from U.K. And US are taken to marry- it's happening all the time! We could do something about that but no one seems to talk about it

This article was on the bbc website yesterday and I shared it on Facebook where plenty of friends were astonished to find it’s true. It’s a horrific state of affairs in a supposedly civilised country. Tho I question that a lot as when gun laws were not changed after the Sandy Hook massacre it seemed America had decided that shooting children wasn’t worthy a law change....not a civilised society.

Why does the US have so many child brides?
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41727495www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41727495

It is whataboutery because you've come on to a thread about one issue and made into one about another. In this country it is illegal for children to marry, in the US it isn't. If parents in this country want to marry their children off they have to take them elsewhere, possibly the US? In the US, if parents want to do the same they can just take them to a courthouse down the road. We can't affect legislation in other countries, but maybe by holding a mirror up to them we can shame them into changing it, and in the process protecting children here. Suggesting that the two societies are in anyway equivalent ignores the real issue, and also means we miss an opportunity to talk about where this is happening.

of course legislation should be there, but at same time this problem needs to be tackled or will just continue, perhaps increase

Legislation may lead to more girls being taken abroad where anything could happen to them, including murder

I'm saying yes we have legislated against it, but it is still going on I'm drawing attention to it.
A major issue effecting girls in this country you pass off as "what aboutery"- amazing! Girls are being exported, but let's ignore it.

Missymoo, the difference is that child marriage is illegal in the UK. The fact that it happens is appalling, but we haven't avoided legislating against it because some people will still do it. Please stop with the whataboutery, the two situations are not remotely similar.

Girls are being removed from education, taken abroad, forced to marry, raped and impregnated. It's happening all the time, children going missing from school in the uk.

We saw this with the charlie gard case too, where many in the us couldn’t grasp the concept that charlie’s rights came before the parents.

Yes but if you alter the law, increase the age- girls are still being exported in the hundrends year on year from uk and also from USA with nothing being said or done, surely this needs to be addressed first. It's not a rare occurrence, it's happening all the time.

If your freedom is at the expense of a vulnerable group then that is not freedom.

It is an appropriation of the word to conceal it being the assertion of privilege and authoritarianism. Just because it doesn't come directly from the state does not mean it is not authoritarian. It is the use of power over another from other sources.

It is post truth freedom.

Learn what fake liberalism is.

It is RIGHT to be intolerant and use the power of the state in some circumstances to prevent real abuses of power. Sadly America will find this out the hard way, I fear. The UK are in danger of doing the same.

Child marriage is not a rare occurrence. It is happening all the time in the uk, except children are taken abroad for the purposes of it. It is most common in Muslim communities- we are not doing Muslim females any service by ignoring this. Political correctness leading to moral blindness.

It is probably no surprise that the USA was one of the few countries not to ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
States rights are a fundamental part of the constitution and were enshrined to protect the country from central government having over-weaning power but this doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t have pressure applied to change laws when they are outdated or in conflict with the fundamental human rights of the citizens in that state. I wonder why the rights of adults to marry a child is more important than the rights of those children? If these instances do happen so rarely and only in deviant cultures (definitely NOT pointing the finger at any group in particular) then surely amending the law so that these instances can be met with the full force of the law is not a big issue at all? Using the states rights argument appears
To me to go against the spirit in which they were established.

do not appreciate the imposition of a nanny state, and there are certain states where personal freedom is held inviolable. Eroding the freedom of individual states makes me nervous.

So basically you are saying the right to personal freedom is more important than protecting children?

I teach swimming and often have this discussion with us colleagues. Here we have dbs checks, and anyone suspected of child abuse can be banned from coaching. In the us apparently data gathering for dbs and banning someone who has not actually been convicted of child abuse contravenes a persons rights.

It’s no suprise to me child marriage is legal.

"The women in these communities will have been brainwashed denied education and probably abused themselves. It's the men leading this."
Two thirds of older generation women in Muslim communities say that if they had to choose izzat over their daughters, they would choose izzat every time.

www.google.co.uk/amp/www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/the-mystery-of-the-missing-muslim-girls-1319082.html%3famp

This is an old article, but I've heard more recent statistics and it's still a very big problem. I think it's scandalous it receives very little attention.

And it's nothing to do with religion, more a cultural thing about maintaining honour or izzat"

The law should protect children but a lot of what goes on unseen is s huge problem. Here in the U.K. There is a problem with honour based abuse, and forced marriage- young girls are taken out of school and sent off abroad to marry and I don't believe we have a handle on that at all.

I once worked with a US teenager who was 15, on her second marriage (first at twelve or 13) and already had two kids by two different husbands. I'd not have believed it if I hadn't worked with her. I was so shocked.

If your freedom means the right to legally rape children then it's tainted and not worth having. It's mind boggling to see someone attempt to defend it. Freedom should be about ensuring all individuals, of whatever age and sex, are free from harm and have the right to self-determination, turning a blind eye to the life destroying exploitation of children so that men can get their jollies is obscene.

Do child protection laws in those states not conflict with child marriage?

It’s put me off America for sure! Who would have known that the law around children is so unestablished.

Eeanne- I think it’s worrying that parents would let their child be wedded. Possibly such parents live in an environment where abuse has been normalised and the whole family has been played by an abuser. Or possibly the family have SEN and possibly different comprehension.