Increasing numbers of impoverished parents marry their daughters to ensure dowry to help maintain the rest of the family, “to have one mouth less to feed”, or in an effort to help the bride to have a better- to enter the household, the UN agency said.
“We are seeing alarming rates of child marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM) across the Horn of Africa – with some needy families arranging to marry girls as young as 12 to men who are more than five times their age,” said Andy Brooks. Unicef’s Regional Child Protection Advisor for East and Southern Africa. “These are not decisions that families make lightly.”
‘Child marriage puts an end to childhood’
In parts of the region, FGM – a non-medical practice where genitals are cut – is a precursor to marriage. Although data are limited, analysis of available figures in three of Ethiopia’s worst-hit areas found that cases of FGM increased by 27 percent between January and April 2022, compared to the same time frame in 2021.
A similar trend has been identified in Kenya. Fourteen of the 23 provinces affected by drought are already FGM hotspots, and incidence rates have risen by 98 percent.
“Child marriage and FGM end childhood – drive girls out of school and make them more vulnerable to domestic violence and a lifetime of poverty,” Mr Brooks said. “The figures we have do not establish the extent of the problem: large parts of the Horn of Africa have no specialist facilities where cases can be reported.”
The boom in child marriages is a reversal of decades of progress. Before this year, 40 percent of girls in the region were married under the age of 18, compared to 70 percent three decades ago.