Today is the UN's International Day of the Girl. Unless you're a committed feminist, you probably won't have heard about it. The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street didn't put up any lights, and there won't have been any promotional traffic crossings.
Here's why there should have been something, especially this year. The International Day of the Girl is intended to draw attention to the issue of forced marriage, or, to put it another way, sexual enslavement, and thanks to Covid, that issue is now worse than ever.
The COVID-19 pandemic is profoundly affecting the everyday lives of girls: their physical and mental health, their education, and the economic circumstances of their families and communities. Changes like these increase the likelihood ofchild marriage, and over the next decade, up to 10 million more girls will be at risk of becoming child brides as a result of the pandemic.
data.unicef.org/resources/covid-19-a-threat-to-progress-against-child-marriage/
The two biggest worldwide killers of girls aged between 15-19 are
- complications of pregnancy and childbirth, and
- self-harm.
Both issues are intimately connected to the forced marriage of girls, but we'll focus on the first.
FAIRFIELD, Conn. (Oct. 10, 2021) — More than an estimated 22,000 girls a year are dying from pregnancy and childbirth resulting from child marriage, new analysis from Save the Children released on International Day of the Girl reveals.
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Although nearly 80 million child marriages globally have been prevented in the last 25 years, progress had stalled even before the COVID-19 pandemic—which has only worsened inequalities that drive child marriage. With school closures, health services under strain or closed, and more families being pushed into poverty, women, and girls face an increased risk of violence during lengthy lockdowns. A further 10 million girls are now expected to marry by 2030,[1] leaving more girls at risk of dying.
President and CEO of Save the Children Janti Soeripto, said: “Child marriage is one of the worst and deadliest forms of sexual and gender-based violence against girls. Every year, millions are forced into wedlock with men who are often much older, robbing them of an opportunity to keep learning, be children, and in many cases, to survive.
“Childbirth is the number one killer of teenaged girls because their young bodies aren’t ready to bear children. The health risks of children having children cannot, and must not, be ignored. Governments must prioritize girls and ensure they’re protected from child marriage and premature childbirth-related deaths. This can only happen if girls have a say in the decisions that affect them.”
Continues: reliefweb.int/report/world/child-marriage-kills-more-60-girls-day
Over at the coverage here women.ncr-iran.org/2021/10/10/the-iranian-girl-child-is-the-youngest-victim-of-cruel-discriminations/
the writers say "Iranian girl children commit suicide due to forced marriage. Early and forced marriages are among the reasons for suicide among young women and girls in Iran" and list some of the girls under 19 who have died from suicide as a consequence of being subjected to forced marriage.
Save the Children has this list of aims.
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Raise girls’ voices by supporting their right to safe and meaningful participation in all public decision-making.
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Address immediate and ongoing risks of gender-based violence, including child marriage, by putting girls’ rights and gender equality at the center of COVID-19 and humanitarian responses, development policy, and broader efforts to build forward better.
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Guarantee the rights of all girls, including those impacted by different forms of inequality and discrimination (including on the basis of gender, race, disability, economic background, etc.), by developing inclusive policies and programs. Safe and ethical data collection must also be improved to better understand and respond in real-time to COVID-19’s impact on existing economic, climate, and conflict-related crises.
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Ensure the safe and unrestricted participation of female humanitarian staff in all humanitarian response efforts, including needs assessments and the design, implementation, and monitoring, and evaluation of all humanitarian services at every level.
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Join the Generation Equality movement, working to deliver on the Global Acceleration Plan for Gender Equality, which set a target to prevent nine million child marriages in five years.
What do you think?