44pc of marriages involving underage girls go unregistered

Almost half of the marriages involving underage girls were not registered in the country in 2016 and 2017, while none of those registered used any proof of age or birth certificate, according to a new study report.

The report is based on the analysis of 85 case studies done in 19 districts.

Findings show that out of the 85 child brides, 80 percent were 14-16 years old, 13 percent were 10-13 years of age, and only seven percent were 17-18. In 56 percent of cases, the marriages were registered, while the rest were not recorded.

The report “Children in Bangladesh: Progress towards Commitments in 2017” was unveiled yesterday at a programme organised by the Child Rights Advocacy Coalition in Bangladesh at Jatiya Press Club in Dhaka.

The 10-member network of development and rights organisations as well as civil society members prepared the report using both primary and secondary data.

The factors behind early marriage were cited as superstition about marital status of girls, dowry, insecurity, social pressure, poverty, death of parents, love affairs, sexual harassment, and seeing girls as a family burden.

Of the child brides, 15 percent were students of grades III and V, 50 percent of grade-VIII, and the remaining 35 percent of grades IX and X.

The report also reveals that out of the 85 cases, 35 percent of grooms were underage.

Based on their analysis, the coalition recommended establishing a monitoring cell to check underage marriages and finalise the Draft National Action Plan to Eliminate Child Marriage (2015-2021).

Addressing the programme, Ain o Salish Kendra Executive Director Sheepa Hafiza said, “A fact-finding mission should be formed to better understand the situation of child marriage at the field level.”

Laila Jesmin, additional secretary of the women and children affairs ministry, said that besides the Child Marriage Restraint Act-2017, the government has recently formulated the Child Marriage Restraint Rules-2018.

As per the rules, a “verification committee” headed by the Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) will be formed in each upazila to evaluate the “best interest” of underage children if they have to be married under the “special circumstances” provision of the law, she said.

She added that they have also planned to celebrate a national day to build awareness about birth registration.