Child Marriage is a Child Rights issue. Child marriages disempowers girls who are forced to marry, as they drop out of school, face health complications and violence. This practice denies adolescent girls of their right to education, health and security. In collaboration with Child Observatory Organization, SVSS is implementing a project “Empowering Girls by Addressing Child Marriage”.

This programme is supported by Unicef for curbing child marriage with multilayered strategy of awareness generation in community specially women, girls about their legal rights; community mobilisation for changing their mindset towards child marriage by comprehending effects/consequences of child marriage creating environment for effective implementation law to prevent child marriage identification of change agents to take up advocacy with stakeholders - including state level government officials for policy matters and district level government officials for implementation and with media for wider dissemination; formation of task force forum to keep vigil on households and dissuading them to perform early marriage.

The project is being implemented in one district of Madhya Pradesh viz, Sehore which are among the districts having high rate of child marriage in the state. The intervention area is 1 10 villages of Sehore block of Sehore district. During the year PRI members at Panchayat level and police personnel’s working at police stations in project area were oriented towards their role in preventing child marriages by enforcing the laws related to prevention of child marriages. Capacity building programmes were conducted for all the members of village level watchdog committees comprising of Youths, Sarpanch, Secretary of Village Panchayat, ASHA, Anganwadi Worker and Teacher of the village. A media workshop was organised at Sehore in which media persons both from electronic and print, Panch – Sarpanch from project villages and government officials from concerned departments participated.They were sensitised about the causes and consequences of child marriages. There was a positive interaction among the participant stakeholders. Meetings with government officials at state as well as district and block level for integrating efforts to prevent child marriages. Now positive results are visible in the project districts, watchdog groups are actively keeping a vigil on at risk girl families and reporting to MCM as well as Department of Women Empowerment, GOMP. Trend of media reporting is changing from reporting of child marriages to reporting of efforts to stop child marriages with success.

Using data from 82 countries, the study reveals that child marriage among boys is prevalent across a range of countries around the world, spanning sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, South Asia, and East Asia and the Pacific.

“Marriage steals childhood,” said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore. “Child grooms are forced to take on adult responsibilities for which they may not be ready. Early marriage brings early fatherhood, and with it added pressure to provide for a family, cutting short education and job opportunities.”

According to the data, the Central African Republic has the highest prevalence of child marriage among males (28 per cent), followed by Nicaragua (19 per cent) and Madagascar (13 per cent).

The new estimates bring the total number of child brides and child grooms to 765 million. Girls remain disproportionately affected, with 1 in 5 young women aged 20 to 24 years old married before their 18^thbirth, compared to 1 in 30 young men.

While the prevalence, causes and impact of child marriage among girls have been extensively studied, little research exists on child marriage among boys. However, children. Most at risk of child marriage come from the poorest households, live in rural areas, and have little to no education.

“As we mark the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, we need to remember that marrying boys and girls off while they are still children runs counter to the rights enshrined in the Convention,” said Fore. “Through further research, investment and empowerment, we can end this violation.”exploitation and abuse.Child protection system connect children to vital social services and fair justice systems – starting at birth. They provide care to the most vulnerable, including children uprooted by conflict, poverty and disaster;victims of child labor or trafficking; and those who live with disabilities or in alternative care. Above all, protecting children means protecting their physical, mental and psycho social needs to safeguard their futures.

The latest global data reveals that during 2022 there were some positive trends, including a 2.5 million reduction in the number of zero-dose children worldwide. A zero-dose child is one that has not received a single dose of a diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis vaccine. But the reality is that about one in five children are still zero-dose or under-vaccinated, meaning that they’ve missed out entirely or partially on routine immunization. Those are levels we’ve not seen since 2008.

Reaching those children requires the development of vaccination campaigns and strategies that are unique to the circumstances facing specific communities. That’s the case in the city of Manaus, which lies on the banks of the Negro River in northwestern Brazil. The city is the capital of the vast rain-forest state of Amazonas and while the city itself has a population of more than 2 million, it’s surrounded by incredibly remote areas. Therefore, reaching children with vaccines requires different approaches and creative modes of transport.

In addition to the field visits, which sees her traversing the waterways by canoe, Lindalva de Freitas also provides services at the Lago do Aleixo Health Unit in Manaus, where she’s worked for more than 20 years.

Health workers from that same facility have been providing care to 4-year-old Gabriel de Oliveira. When Gabriel was a baby, he was orphaned along with his brothers Kauan, 10, and Kennedy, 5. The three boys had no medical records at the time, and no vaccinations. Their grandmother, Elmira de Oliveira, took care of the boys, and for her, accessing health care for her grandchildren was paramount.

No matter their story, all children have the right to health care, education and other forms of social protection that shield them from the lifelong consequences of poverty and exclusion. But worldwide, many are deprived of these rights – some as early as birth.

Children who have lost the care of their parents may also find it impossible to access essential services. If placed in some forms of alternative care, they become even more exposed to physical and emotional abuse or neglect.

For children who have been uprooted by conflict, poverty and disaster, the risk of exclusion soars. Millions of children have taken perilous journeys, within and across borders, to find a safe and prosperous life. As they do, they encounter discrimination, violence and exploitation along the way – all while cut off from essential care.

Victims of child labor or trafficking are also deprived of the most basic human rights. In extreme situations, these children may be forced into sexual exploitation or recruitment by armed groups, with no means to seek protection or justice.

Children typically experience violence at the hands of the people they trust most.

No matter what form of violence a child is exposed to, her experience may lead to serious and lifelong consequences. Violence can result in physical injury, sexually transmitted infections, anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, unplanned pregnancy and even death. Evidence also suggests that toxic stress associated with violence in early childhood can permanently impair brain development and damage other parts of the nervous system.

Long-term behavioral impacts on children include aggressive and anti-social behavior, substance abuse, risky sexual behavior and criminal behavior.

Despite these grave physical and mental health consequences, the vast majority of child victims never seek or receive help to recover. What’s more, children who grow up with violence are more likely to re-enact it as young adults and caregivers themselves, creating a new generation of victims.

• Child marriage is widespread across India, withnearly half of brides married as girls.
• While there has been a decline in the incidence of child marriage nationally (from 54 per cent in 1992-93 to 33 per cent today) and in nearly all states, the pace of change remains slow, especially for girls in the age group 15-18 years.
• Child marriage is more prevalent in rural areas (48 per cent) than in urban areas (29 per cent).
• There are alsovariations across different groups, particularlyexcluded communities, castes and tribes– although some ethnic groups, such astribal groups, have lower rates of child marriage compared with the majority population.
• Drop out of school, have a low-paid job and limited decision-making power at home.A girl with 10 years of education has a six times lower chance of being pushed into marriage before she is 18.
• 40% of the world’s 60 million child marriages take place in India according to the National Family Health Survey.
• India has the14th highest rate of child marriage in the world, according to the International Center for Research on Women.
• Lack of education:A big determinant of the age of marriage is education. Around 45% of women with no education and 40% with primary education married before the age of 18, according to NFHS-4.
• Seen as a Burden:Economically, child marriages work as mechanisms that are quick income earners. A girl child is seen as a leeway to a large dowry, to be given to her family upon her marriage.
• Poverty: In terms of economic status, women from poor households tend to marry earlier. While more than 30% of women from the lowest two wealth quin-tiles were married by the age of 18, the corresponding figure in the richest quin tile was 8%.
• Social background:Child marriages are more prevalent in rural areas and among Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
• Trafficking: Poor families are tempted to sell their girls not just into marriage, but into prostitution, as the transaction enables large sums of money to benefit the girl’s family and harms the girl. There is apathy towards their girls and the money by selling their girls is used for the benefit of their sons
• Girls are often seen as a liability with limited economic role. Women’s work is confined to the household and is not valued. In addition, there is the problem of dowry. Despite the fact that dowry has been prohibited for five decades (Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961), it is still common for parents of girls in India to give gifts to the groom and /or his family either in cash or kind. The dowry amount increases with the age and the education level of the girl. Hence, the “incentive” of the system of dowry perpetuates child marriage.
• The families and girls who might benefit from social protection programmes are not always aware of them and these schemes are often limited to providing cash transfers without the accompanying messages to address the multi-dimensional nature of child marriage.