Child Marriage Throughout the World

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According to article one of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the term “child marriage” is used to describe a legal or customary union between two people, of whom one or both spouses is below the age of eighteen.1 In fact, One in three girls in a low and middle-income country (excluding China) will marry before the age of 18. Moreover, One in nine girls will marry before their fifteenth birthday, and in the least-developed countries child marriage is even higher—nearly one in two.2 Even if one gave their consent to marry, anyone under the age of eighteen is not able to make a fully informed choice whether or not to marry, even if it will get your family out of poverty. While child marriage affects both sexes, girls are unfairly affected as they remain to be the majority of the victims. Child marriage should be considered a human rights violation. It consists of devastating and even possible life threatening consequences most would not think of. But, Despite national laws and international agreements, child marriage remains a real and present threat to the human rights, lives and health of children, especially for girls, in more than a hundred countries. Thus, if people around the world gain more knowledge and interest on child marriage, the chances of countries prohibiting child marriage may increase. Ultimately allowing girls and boys to grow up and marry who and when they desire.
While child marriage may be getting numerous families out of poverty, many families do not know of the life threatening consequences that come with marrying at a young age. Although child marriage can both involve a boy or a girl, most of the time the girls are the victims of child marriage. For girls, it is actually far worse than many peop...

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...of child marriage.
To conclude, child marriage is a serious problem, and it should be considered a human right violation. It does not only put the child’s life at risk through serious health issues and life threatening consequences, such as HIV, malnutrition, and complications with child birth and pregnancy but, it also is violating the rights of certain human beings. As stated above, there are numerous articles in the The Universal Declaration of Human Rights that would disagree with child marriage, thus supporting child marriage should be considered a human rights violation. In todays society, if people around the world gain more knowledge and interest on child marriage, the chances of people actually making a difference will greatly increase. Ultimately allowing the children whom would normally lay victim to child marriage live and grow as normal people would.

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