child marriages?

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) reports that by 2020 the number of child marriages (primarily young girls under age 18) will have increased to approximately 39,000 daily. That number is grossly underestimated when all factors are taken into account, including the unreported kidnapping of children and the "child marriages" that are not formalized and accurately recorded.

First, the term "child marriage" is a misnomer. Most of these "events" are not "marriages" but rather, yet another methodology for kidnapping young girls with impunity and turning them into sex slaves, while claiming that the girls chose to leave their families to get married for purposes of financial security. While it is true that in some instances families adhere to certain local customs and choose to legitimately marry their young girls, sometimes keeping the child at home until she is formally ready to enter into the marriage relationship, that is not what is occurring in many parts of the world, particularly in south Asia and in Africa.

Young girls, many of them under the age of 15 are either being kidnapped, with the family being led to believe that she made a genuine choice to leave, or are being purchased as slaves, with their destitute families receiving a small pittance that ostensibly is being classified as a traditional dowry. There generally is no interest in the welfare of the child as a legitimate spouse, but rather as a slave to the sexual desires of men who frequently are significantly older. She often will have a "still born" baby, or will die in childbirth with her first pregnancy and the "husband" will move onto his next victim.

A large percentage of the husbands of child brides are foreign men, many of them from countries such as China whose population is overwhelmingly male because of China's "one child" policy that was in effect for more than two decades. This situation presents a global emergency of epic proportions, yet countries are reportedly planning to address the issue over the next fifteen years. That is equivalent to a fire department giving a family a next-day appointment to put out a raging kitchen fire.

Both the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and UNFPA need to see this for the emergency that it is and take every possible precaution to ensure that the children involved are adequately protected. First, no marriage, including paper marriages, should be formally solemnized until the child is at least sixteen years old, which in many countries is approximately the age that the child completes high school.

Second, children who are missing from their families should not be assumed to have made an independent choice to leave, even if the parents subsequently are given evidence suggesting that this is what happened. Third, men who suddenly reappear in their home countries with minor children in their care should be investigated and prosecuted where appropriate.

Fourth, destitute families should be provided with every available resource, including agricultural seeds, farm animals, and appropriate training to enable them to provide for their families. Fifth, families who are destitute and whose annual incomes are below a threshhold amount should be required to report annually to a town or city official on the number, welfare and condition of their minor children in order to ensure that there is adequate accountability, and that children who are missing from their families are given every possible protection.

Sixth, all children should be required to be enrolled in an educational institution at least through the age of sixteen, or the completion of high school, whichever is sooner. Children are the future of our world. If they are not afforded adequate protections either by their home countries or by the international community, then we are slowly but surely shredding the fabric of our global community.