LALITPUR, SEP 06 - (>The Kathmandu Post)
A Unicef survey on violence against children shows that ignorance of harmful consequences and not the often-cited poverty is behind child marriages in Nepal.
Around 15 percent of the respondents thought that children under the age of 18 get married because they and their family members are not acquainted with the effects early marriage has on the child’s education, health and well-being.
According to the survey, the other top four reasons are ignorance of child rights, family and social pressure, acceptance of the practice as culture, and acceptance of the practice as norm.
“These findings show that it’s not poverty behind the prevalence of child marriage,” said John Brittain, chief of Communications at Unicef-Nepal.
According to the country’s 2011 census, 11 percent of the total married population tied the knot by the age of 15, while 81 percent of those who were married by 15 are girls.
According to the Nepal Demographic and Health Survey, 2011, 29 percent of girls in the age group of 15-19 are married, while the figure for boys of the same age group remains at 6.9 percent.
The Unicef survey which will not be published until the end of this year, found that this discrimination among boys and girls can be explained by people’s perception of the marriageable age. While 58.7 percent of the respondents said boys should get married after turning 18, only 37.4 percent thought so about girls. The survey, tentatively titled ‘Knowledge, Attitude and Practices Study on Violence Against Children’, does not explore the role of religion behind child marriage.
But as religious leaders decide an auspicious date for weddings, Unicef is organising an interaction between adolescents and religious leaders on September 15 in Kathmandu in this regard.
