Early Child Marriages

OPINION: Keeping All Girls in School is One Way to Curb Child Marriage in Tanzania

By Agnes Odhiambo
“You cannot continue with your education. You have to get married because this man has already paid dowry for you,” Matilda H’s father told her. Matilda, from Tanzania, was 14 and had just passed her primary school exams and had been admitted to secondary school. She pleaded with her father to allow her to continue her education, but he refused.  

Pakistani Rights Advocates Fight Losing Battle to End Child Marriages

By Irfan Ahmed
At first glance, there is nothing very unusual about Muhammad Asif Umrani. A resident of Rojhan city located in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province, he is expectantly awaiting the birth of his first child, barely a year after his wedding day.

When Children Give Birth to Children

By Mallika Aryal
Radhika Thapa was just 16 years old when she married a 21-year-old boy three years ago. Now, she is expecting a baby and is well into the last months of her pregnancy. This is not the first time she has been with child – her first two pregnancies ended in miscarriages.

Girls Fight Back Against Child Marriage

By Naimul Haq
Shirin Aktar was just 13 years old when her parents decided it was time for her to get married.

OP-ED: In South Sudan, Ending Child Marriage Will Require a Comprehensive Approach

By Agnes Odhiambo
Akech B. loved to study and dreamed of becoming a nurse. But when she was 14, her uncle who was raising her forced her to leave school to marry a man Akech described as old and gray-haired. The man paid 75 cows as dowry for Akech. He was already married to another woman with whom he had several children. 

Maternal Healthcare Evades Marginalised Mothers

By Stella Paul
In the small village of Haldiyaganj in the northeastern Indian state of Meghalaya, 17-year old Injuara Begum is nursing her son who was born right here on the floor of her home three years ago.

Afghan Girls Give More Than Their Hands in Marriage

By Abida M. Telaee
In Afghanistan, the maternal mortality rate is on the rise; hospitals are filling up with anaemic women and girls; and in over 200 districts, high schools are devoid of even a single female pupil. These issues are not unrelated - they are all products of a grave social problem in this country of 35 million people: early child marriages.


on java road by lawrence osborne