Child marriage is one of the biggest human rights violations in the world. The national strategic plan to end child marriage in nigeria. The rate of early marriage is 87% in northwest nigeria, although it is 56% in kaduna. The child rights act, passed in 2003, raised the minimum age of marriage to 18 for girls. Children should have childhoods and not be forced into marriages. Identify the effect of early marriage on the academic performance on girl child. The effect of early marriage towards girls marriage is found in all cultures. End early and forced marriage for girls in nigeria.
This study is therefore informed by this practice seeks to analyse the cause, impact on the nigerian society as well as determine if available solutions are. The nigerian government has taken a firm step to stop child marriage in the nation, with a campaign to protect the girl child launched on tuesday by vice president yemi osinbajo. Pdf early marriage and its implications on the nigerian economy. Sadly, as this digest makes clear, the practice of early marriage gives no such. Early marriage in nigeria causes consequences and solution. The african subregions are based on the regional classification of the african.
In many parts of the world parents encourage the marriage of their daughters while they are still children in hopes that the marriage will benefit them both financially and socially, while also. Marriage traditions is one of such culturally resplendent practices and jumia travel, the leading online travel agency, shares 5 interesting nigerian marriage traditions to know. The project study is wellresearched for academic purposes and are usually provided in complete chapters with adequate references. States under the constitution of new cutting edge elementary students book pdf the federal republic of nigeria.
Early marriage and its implications on the nigerian economy. Early marriage, cohabitation, and childbearing in west africa. The prevalence of child marriage in west africa is one of the highest in the global south. First of all, if you ask a question if it is legal to force children into marriage, it is actually not legal according to the childs rights act of 2003, where it is pointed out that the age of consent for a child is 18 years old. Meanwhile, tradition and culture endorse the concept of early marriage, the 1999 nigerian constitution is silent on the issue, although it could be implied from the provisions of section 29 that parties to a marriage must be of full age. Mauritania and nigeria, more than half of adolescent girls aged 15 to 19 who are currently married have husbands who are 10 or more years older than they. Faith effect and voice on early marriage in a nigerian. Child marriage and fertility in nigeria english abstract. Child marriage represents a fundamental breach of human rights. Early and forced marriage, child, child rights, nigeria. Early marriage in africa trends, harmful effects and interventions judithann walker coordinator, development research and projects centre 63 b sultan road, nassarwa gra, kano state, nigeria email. Whether it happens to a girl or a boy, early marriage is a violation of human rights. Marriage act an act to make provisions for the celebration of marriages.
It repealed the marriage ordinance 1908, the marriage proclamation 1907, and the foreign marriage ordinance 19. Limited education and economic options little or no schooling strongly correlates with being married at a young age. Early and forced marriages in nigeria exists and needs to be curbed on time. If you are lucky enough to find your love, sooner or later you will have to legitimize your relationship. Forced early marriages are known to cause reproductive health risk to the girl child and they. This was achieved through the marriage ordinance 1914, which applied throughout nigeria. In most of the countries the minimum legal age for the child marriage is 18 years. The impact of early marriage taking action the need for research in conclusion links references innocenti digest no. Still, approximately 650 million girls and women alive today were married before their 18th birthday. The share of women ages 1822 who married as children is 42. Nov 29, 2016 the nigerian government has taken a firm step to stop child marriage in the nation, with a campaign to protect the girl child launched on tuesday by vice president yemi osinbajo. Conversely, attending school and having higher levels of education protect girls from the possibility of early marriage.
Introduction marriage before the age of 18 is a reality for many young women. Nigeria, particularly northern nigeria, has some of the highest rates of early marriage in the world. It outlines strategies to help those who have been married at an early age, and for the prevention of early marriage through education, advocacy and alliancebuilding. Major types of marriage in nigeria updated 2019 legit. To know the general attitude of the public towards early marriage. The child, early, and forced marriagecefm resource guide task order is implemented by banyan global in collaboration with the international center for research on women icrw. The early childhood development index was used to measure child development, and stunting was used to measure health.
Yet, much of what we know about the harmful effects of early marriage and why it persists comes from research on south asia. The child rights act, passed in 2003, raised the minimum age. Nigeria is the 11th highest nation in the world for percentage of child marriages data shows a 9% decline in the prevalence of child marriage compared to 2003. Aug 27, 2019 child marriage is the formal or informal marriage of a child under the age of 18 most often the marriage of a young girl to an older boy or man. If a party to such a void marriage is charged with any of the sexual. Early marriage refers to any marriage before the legal age of marriage which may differ from country to country the legal age of marriage differs by sex, for example, in some countries in africa it is 18 for males and only 15 for females. Findings from implementation research in nigeria another significant but underresearched issue is. Aug 03, 2017 marriage traditions is one of such culturally resplendent practices and jumia travel, the leading online travel agency, shares 5 interesting nigerian marriage traditions to know. The national strategic plan to end child marriage in nigeria 20162021 aims to highlight the multisectoral, multifaceted activities needed to end child marriage in nigeria. In 2017 in nigeria, 43% of girls are married off before the age of 18.
In nigeria, particularly northern nigeria has some of the highest rates of early marriage in the world. The share of girls marrying very early, before the age of 15, has also declined. Girl child marriage as a risk factor for early childhood. Identify government aid towards the stopping of early marriage in nigeria. While the global reduction in child marriage is to be. Building resilience and resistance to child, early, and forced.
This brief has provided a basic profile of early childbirth in niger. Nigerian government moves to end child marriage channels. However, a number of societies accept and practice this. While the age of marriage is generally on the rise, early marriage marriage of children and adolescents below the age of 18 is still widely practiced. For further information and to download these and other publications, please visit. Pdf child marriage is often deployed as a response to crisis, considered by families and communities to be the best. Controlling for socioeconomic and other characteristics, the average number of births per woman. A lot of people out there are one day hoping to find true love and live happily. Short title this act may be cited as the marriage act. The practice of child marriage has continued to decline around the world. Globally, vulnerable and marginalized rural girls and women continue to bear the health risks and social and economic costs of early and forced marriage, non. Child spouses this digest focuses on early marriage the marriage of children and young people under the age of 18 from a human rights perspective. One major issue is that early marriage is often rationalized as a religious norm.
Download marriage covenant by faith oyedepo pdf for further reading on gods concepts for marriage, marriage as a covenant and a stepbystep analysis of the purpose for marriage, please read my book. Should be able to tell if early marriage is higher in the rural areas or in the urban area. In may 2014, the african union au launched a campaign to end child marriage in africa, by enhancing continental awareness of its. This brief has provided a basic profile of child marriage in nigeria.
Child marriage country profile national population commission nigeria and icf international 2014. Regionally, there have been a number of african mechanisms and institutions that have recognised and taken steps to address the harmful impact of child marriage. All hands therefore need to be on deck to solve this problem since children are too immature both physically and mentally to fight on their own. Help put an end to early and forced marriage and the damage it causes to a girls health and her wellbeing. A harmful traditional practice 11 women who had used modern contraception. In minna, nigeria, where conservative sharia islamic law is in effect, the international centre for reproductive health and sexual rights increse is helping to prevent child marriage by educating girls and empowering. Marriage, defined as a formal or an informal union before the age of full maturity, usually 18, is a multifaceted sociocultural and endemic harmful practice. Adopting life course family development perspectives on adolescent sexuality, we examine the linkages between the timing of union formation and childbearing across multiple. Early child marriage in nigeria is a violation of the fundamental human rights of women as many girls are forced into marriage against their freewill and consent. Legal issues, complications, implications, prospects and solutions article pdf available january 2014 with,366 reads how we measure reads. Nigeria and the ills of child marriage vanguard news.
However, the word early marriage brings a whole different meaning to us. Girlchild marriage in the nigerian society, causes. National strategy to end child marriage in nigeria 2016. Child marriage essay introduction causes impact imp days. Using logistic regression, we found that the odds of being offtrack for development and being stunted were 25% and 29% higher, respectively, for children born to women who married before age 18 compared to those whose mothers. While early marriage takes many different forms and has various causes, one issue is paramount. Jun 18, 2010 this paper deals with the problem of early marriage and childbirth in eastern nigeria, particularly among the ibibio ethnic group. In nigeria, women who marry as children have on average 1833 percent more births over their life time as compared to women marrying after the age of 18. This paper deals with the problem of early marriage and childbirth in eastern nigeria, particularly among the ibibio ethnic group.
It is based on the premise of a coordination platform led by the federal ministry of women affairs and social development and cochaired by save the children. Many girls who are married off before they turn 18 or are forced into early marriages are made to leave school, depriving them of their right to education and future independence. The share of women ages 1822 who had their first child before 18 is 47. Faso, cameroon, cote divoire, guinea, and togo, lloyd and mensch 2008 find that for girls aged 15 to 24, child marriage and pregnancies directly account for between 5% and 33% of dropouts, depending on the country. Adult nigerian womens accounts of early marriages show all authors. Nigeria has committed to eliminate child, early and forced marriage by 2030 in line with target 5. You may have heard a lot about nigerian traditional marriage. The age of marriage under customary law is governed in the three eastern states of nigeria by the age of marriage law 1956. The digest examines the scale of early marriage, its context, causes and its impact on every aspect of the lives of those affected particularly young girls and on wider society. The causes, consequences and solutions to forced child.
However some countries allow marriages at 16 years as well, especially for the girl children. Should be able to tell if early marriage is higher in. Building resilience and resistance to child, early, and forced marriage through acquiring skills. According to girlsnotbrides 2011, each year, about 10 million girls around the globe become child brides.
During the past decade, the proportion of young women who were married as children decreased by 15 per cent, from 1 in 4 25% to approximately 1 in 5 21%. Early marriage in africa trends, harmful effects and. Legality of child marriage in nigeria and inhibitions against realisation of education rights kayode olatunbosun fayokun obafemi awolowo university, ileife, nigeria early marriage forces girls into adulthood before they are emotionally and physically matured, leading to a range of harmful effects on their health, education, and economic and. Acquiring skills to build resistance to early marriage for inschool girls in northwest nigeria. Effects of early child marriages in nigeria free essays. Child marriage and fertility in nigeria english the. A guide for global policy actionappeals to key policy makers to improve the quality of life of millions of girls and young women forced into child marriages. I intend this paper to be a tool to help both humanrights activists and policy makers to effect positive change for girl children affected by early marriage. Estimates presented here are based on a subset of 49 african countries with available data covering 97 per cent of the african female population. Early marriage in nigeria is against international conventions mentioned earlier in this work, which placed the legal age of consent to marriage at 18 years. Getting married before reaching at this minimum legal age is not only illegal but also against.
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