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A child means every human being below the age of eighteen years unless,under the law applicable to the

child, majority is attained earlier. 7 per cent of girls aremarried before they are 10 years old and 40per

cent by the time they are 15The right to exercise that choicewas recognized as a principle of law even in Roman times and has long been established in international human rights instruments.Yet many girls, and a smaller numberof boys, enter marriage without anychance of exercising their right to choose. Some are forced into marriage at a veryearly age. Others are simply too young tomake an informed decision about their marriage partner or about the implicationsof marriage itself. They may have given what passes for consent in the eyes ofcustom or the law, but in reality, consentto their binding union has been made byothers on their behalf. thers on their behalf.The assumption is that once a girl ismarried, she has become a woman evenif she is only 12. Equally, where a boy ismade to marry, he is now a man and mustput away childish things.Whether it happens to a girlor a boy, early marriage is a violation ofhuman rights. The right to free and fullconsent to a marriage is recognized in the1948 Universal Declaration of HumanRights (UDHR) and in many subsequent human rights instruments consent thatcannot be free and full when at least onepartner is very immature. For both girlsand boys, early marriage has profoundphysical, intellectual, psychological andemotional impacts, cutting off educationalopportunity and chances of personalgrowth. For girls, in addition, it will almostcertainly mean premature pregnancy andchildbearing, and is likely to lead to a lifetime of domestic and sexual subservienceover which they have no control.Yet many societies, primarily in Africaand South Asia, continue to support theidea that girls should marry at or soon afterpuberty. Their spouses are likely to be a fewyears older than they are, but may be morethan twice their age. Parents and heads of families make marital choices for daughtersand sons with little regard for the personalimplications. Rather, they look upon marriageas a family-building strategy, an economicarrangement or a way to protect girls from unwelcome sexual advances.To date, most studies on the effects ofearly marriage have focused on prematuresex and pregnancy and school drop-out.Poverty is one of the major factors underpinningearly marriage. Where poverty isacute, a young girl may be regarded as aneconomic burden and her marriage to amuch older sometimes even elderly man, a practice common in some Middle Eastern and South Asian societies, is a family survival strategy, and may even be seen as in her interests. In traditional societiesin Sub-Saharan Africa, the bridesfamily may receive cattle from the groom,or the grooms family, as the brideprice for their daughter Parents may genuinely feel that their daughter will be better off and safer with a regular male guardian. In many societies, a girl is raised toshow the self-control and deference to men that will be expected of her throughoutlife. By the age of five, a girl in ruralPakistan has learnt to go outside as little aspossible, and adopt an attitude of care andservice towards menYoung girls may endure misery as a resultof early marriage and the number of thosewho would seek help, if they thought it existed, is impossible to calculate. Untilmore is known about their situation therecan be no reliable estimates of the scale oftheir predicament, or of the social damagethat is carried forward in the upbringing they give to their own children. Where girls are uneducatedand ill-prepared for their roles as mothers and contributors to society, there are costs to be borne at every level, from the individualhousehold to the nation as a whole. The loss of adolescence, the forced sexualrelations, and the denial of freedom and personal development attendant on early marriage have profound psychosocial andemotional consequences complications during delivery, lowbirth-weight, and a higher chance that thenewborn will not survivePregnancy-related deaths are the leadingcause of mortality for 15-19 year-oldgirls (married and unmarried) worldwide. Early marriage is closely associated with,and contributes to, poverty. Some interventionson behalf of adolescent girlshave focused on improving their economicsituation as a means of grantingthem higher status and more control overtheir lives including their options inmarriage.Early marriage of girls and boys impairsthe realization and enjoyment of virtuallyevery one of their rights. The impositionof a marriage partner on children or adolescentswho are in no way ready for marriedlife, and whose marriage will deprivethem of freedom, opportunity for personaldevelopment, and other rights includinghealth and well-being, education, andparticipation in civic life, nullifies themeaning of the CRCs core protections forthose concerned. Unless measures are taken to address early marriage, it willcontinue to be a major stumbling block tothe achievement of human

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