The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) has warned that drought-afflicted areas of Ethiopia are seeing “dramatic” increases in child marriage as the worst climate-induced emergency for 40 years pushes people to the brink.
According to the UNICEF, three consecutive failed rainy seasons have brought hunger, malnutrition and mass displacement to millions of people in the Horn of Africa, including parts of Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya and Djibouti.
The agency which is responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to children worldwide said that many girls in Ethiopia now face being married at a young age as their parents seek to find extra resources through dowries from the husband’s family, and hope their daughters will be fed and protected by wealthier families.
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Citing local government data, UNICEF’Sexecutive director, Catherine Russell said that some areas of the vast Oromia region, for instance, have seen steep increases in the practice.
She said that In the East Hararghe zone, home to 2.7 million people, child marriage cases increased by 51%, from 70 recorded during a six-month period in 2020-21 to 106 in the same period a year later.
“We’re seeing increases in child marriage that are quite dramatic,” Russell said, noting that more than 600,000 children are thought to have dropped out of school as a result of the drought.
She further maintained that when girls were not in education and were forced to leave their homes, the risks of gender-based violence and of child marriage almost always increased.
“These people have their daughters married because they’re desperate for one reason or another: they’re afraid of violence; they’re afraid for the safety of the girls; they need resources; they can’t afford to feed them,” Russell said.
Story was adapted from the Guardian.
