violence against children WORLD REPORT ON - CRIN

3age permanent unions or marriages. Therecan also be violence in the context of dating,but this type of non-formal partnership relationshipsbetween adolescent boys and girls(and between same-sex young couples) tendsto occur outside the home and family context.It is therefore primarily covered in the chapteron violence against children in the community.In many societies, a marriage or permanentunion is arranged – in the case of girls, usuallyat or soon after puberty – by parents and familyelders. Sometimes these unions are forced onchildren, particularly girls, and result in earlymarriage.While the justifications include protection offamily honour and a girl’s sexual purity, economicfactors also play a role: girls may beviewed as an economic burden in poor families;dowry costs are commonly lower, andbride wealth gains are higher for younger girls;a young girl’s marriage may be arranged tosecure her and her family’s economic future.The Convention on the Elimination of AllForms of Discrimination against Women providesthat the marriage of a child shall haveno legal effect, and that all necessary action,including legislation, shall be taken to specifya minimum age for marriage. In its 1994 GeneralRecommendation on equality and familyrelations, the Committee on the Eliminationof Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)recommended that that the minimum age formarriage for both boys and girls should be 18.The Committee on the Rights of the Childhas echoed this proposal, and frequently recommendsto States that the legal age for marriageshould be raised and equalised.Early marriage of girls has significant negativeconsequences on their health, developmentand rights. It often ends their opportunities forformal education, and results in social isolation.Young wives are regarded as having consentedto sexual relations with their husbands,and become pregnant when young, beforetheir bodies are ready. They face higher ratesof problems in childbirth and maternal mortality.The same applies to child marriage. 68In addition to other risks to their health anddevelopment, girls who marry before the age of18 face significant risk of physical, sexual andpsychological violence at the hands of theirhusbands, with existing evidence suggestingthat girls who marry young are at higherrisk of violence than other women. 69 Intimatepartner violence against married girls is oftena manifestation of unequal power relationsbetween her and her husband, and indicativeof underlying societal beliefs in the status androles of men and women.Prevalence of child marriageChild marriage is common in South Asia, WestAfrica, and some countries in East and SouthernAfrica – especially Mozambique, Uganda andEthiopia – as well as others in the Middle East,notably Yemen. In some countries – mostly inWest Africa, but including Bangladesh andNepal – about 60% of girls are married bythe age of 18, and in at least 28 countries, theproportion is 30%. 70 Although the majority ofcountries have legislation which prohibits mar-57Violence against children in the home and family