India: Child Marriage on the Rise Amidst COVID-19 Pandemic
GHRTV Reporter
Gabriela Johannen
India and Human Rights Researcher,
Global Human Rights Defense.
India has battled with eliminating the harmful practice of child marriage for decades, being a country with one of the highest rates of early marriage in the world. And while child marriage rates have shown a positive trend in the last couple of years with an overall decline from 47% in 2005-2006 to 27% in 2015-2016, recent studies show that those trends have not been able to continue since the Covid-19 pandemic broke out in 2020. Though its full impact is still uncertain, the State of Telangana witnessed a 27% increase in early marriages in the first year of the pandemic alone, while the children’s helpline “Childline” has reported a 17% increase in distressed calls related to the early marriage of girls compared to 2019.
A significant number of families in India depend on daily wages to make a living. The pandemic and its state-imposed lockdowns, however, have made this kind of work nearly impossible to carry out. Moreover, the shutdown of schools and no mid-day meals caused extra financial burdens to parents. As a result, the financial situation of many families is appalling and parents have found marrying off their daughters to be the only way out.
India is not the only country that witnesses a setback from years of progress in battling the harmful practice. According to UNICEF, 10 million additional girls are at risk of early marriage due to Covid-19. And while child marriage is not exclusively limited to girls being the victims, the practice does primarily affect females, now even more than usual. Restrictions imposed by the pandemic make it difficult for girls to access the help they need that protects them from child marriage, unwanted pregnancy, and gender-based violence. Girls are more likely to drop out of school and never return as schools remain closed. And while the UN’s sustainable development goal has targeted ending child marriage by 2030, this goal seems hard to reach without urgent action.
Sources and further reading:
“Child marriage widespread in Bihar, Rajasthan and Bengal: UNICEF report”, India Today, 12 February 2019, https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/child-marriages-widespread-in-bihar-rajasthan-and-bengal-unicef-report-1454035-2019-02-12 last accessed 02 November 2021.
“COVID: India sees a surge in underage marriages”, DW, https://www.dw.com/en/covid-india-sees-a-surge-in-underage-marriages/a-57992104 last accessed 02 November 2021.
“Covid pandemic led to 27% rise in child marriages”, The New Indian Express, 10 April 2021, https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/telangana/2021/apr/10/covid-pandemicled-to-27-rise-in-child-marriages-2288264.html last accessed 02 November 2021.
“India’s Covid crisis sees rise in child marriage and trafficking”, BBC News, 18 September 2020, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-54186709 last accessed 02 November 2021.
UNICEF, “Covid-19: a threat to progress against child marriage”, March 2021, https://data.unicef.org/resources/covid-19-a-threat-to-progress-against-child-marriage/ last accessed 02 November 2021.
UNICEF, “10 million additional girls at risk of child marriage due to COVID-19”, 07 March 2021, https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/10-million-additional-girls-risk-child-marriage-due-covid-19 last accessed 02 November 2021.
UNICEF, “Urgent action needed to meet SDG to end child marriage by 2030”, Opinion editorial by Dr. Onabanjo and Mr. Malick Fall, 09 March 2021, https://www.unicef.org/esa/stories/urgent-action-needed-meet-sdg-end-child-marriage-2030 last accessed 02 November 2021.
