In Bangladesh, 51 per cent of young women were married in childhood, according to a new report which used data from the Bangladesh 2019 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey, reports UNB.
Bangladesh has the highest prevalence of child marriage in South Asia and the eighth highest prevalence in the world, according to a new analysis issued by UNICEF on Wednesday.
Approximately 34.5 million women in Bangladesh were married before they turned 18 and over 13 million women were married before they turned 15.
“Children should not be married. Despite progress, the number of child brides in Bangladesh is staggering. Millions of girls are being robbed of their childhood, and denied their fundamental rights. We need urgent and concerted action to protect girls, to ensure that they stay in school, and have the opportunity to grow up to their fullest potential,” said Sheldon Yett, UNICEF Representative to Bangladesh.
Despite a steady decline in child marriage in the last decade, multiple crises including conflict, climate shocks, and the ongoing fallout from COVID-19 are threatening to reverse hard-earned gains, according to a new analysis issued by UNICEF today.
“The world is engulfed by crises on top of crises that are crushing the hopes and dreams of vulnerable children, especially girls who should be students, not brides,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell.
“Health and economic crises, escalating armed conflicts, and the ravaging effects of climate change are forcing families to seek a false sense of refuge in child marriage. We need to do everything in our power to ensure that their rights to an education and empowered lives are secured.”
Worldwide, an estimated 640 million girls and women alive today were married in childhood, or 12 million girls per year, according to the latest global estimate included in the analysis.
The share of young women who married in childhood has declined from 21 per cent to 19 per cent since the last estimates were released five years ago.
However, in spite of this progress, global reductions would have to be 20 times faster to meet the Sustainable Development Goal of ending child marriage by 2030.
Meanwhile, South Asia continues to drive global reductions and is on pace to eliminate child marriage in about 55 years, the report notes.
Bd-pratidin English/Tanvir Raihan
