Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Casablanca (Agenzia Fides) - Child marriage affects 15 million girls worldwide every year. It is a growing phenomenon, aggravated by poverty, ignorance and fear. This is what participants in a recent forum held in Morocco denounced.
The NGO Girls not brides, which has 450 organizations in 70 Countries has organized a three-day forum in Casablanca and highlights the fact that about 10% of women around the world get married before the age of 18. It is believed that by 2050 approximately 1,200 million girls will be forced into marriage. In developing Countries one girl out of three get married before 18 years of age and one out of nine before 15. Among the most affected by this phenomenon is Bangladesh, India and Niger, where every year 244,000 girls get married before eighteen . These are girls who do not attend school. In India 40% of child marriage is recorded worldwide.
At the end of 2014, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a resolution for the first time urging governments to prohibit juvenile marriages.
The African Union, meanwhile, launched a two-year campaign to end child marriage, and various South Asian governments adopted a regional action plan. However, the phenomenon is not limited to Countries in the developing world, it is also a tradition among immigrant communities. On the occasion of a public awareness campaign, the Ytto Foundation denounced that the practice is also implemented in the Moroccan community in Spain and France. In Morocco, the marriage of minors continues to create concern and, despite the family code adopted in 2004 prohibits it, the judge has the authority to register them. In 2013, over 35 thousand were registered, compared to 18,000 in the last ten years. (AP) (Agenzia Fides 25/05/2015)
