child marriage

Child Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. People marry for many reasons, including one or more of the following: legal, social, emotional, economical, spiritual, and religious. These might include arranged marriages, family obligations, the legal establishment of a nuclear family unit, the legal protection of children and public declaration of commitment.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (among other charters and conventions) all directly or indirectly forbid the degrading and mistreatment of girls inherent in child marriage.
Nevertheless, child marriage is common in many parts of the world, claiming millions of victims annually and hundreds of thousands of injuries or death resulting from abuse or complications from pregnancy and childbirth.
Child marriage in Nepal is not a new phenomenon. It is a socially established practice that has been carried on from generation to generation. Religion has sanctioned it, and society has ensured its continuity.
Child marriage was usually understood to mean the marriage of two children, but it also included unmatched marriages. The highly gender discriminative Hindu marriage law permitted the marriage of a very young girl and a very old man. The Hindu puritans also gave full sexual freedom to the men: they could marry as many wives they wanted for pleasure and child rearing, but were very strict with women. And that gave rise to the custom of “sati”, in which a woman, even if she were very young and with child, had to be burnt alive along with her husband’s dead body. The sati custom was prevalent in Nepali society up to the end of 19th century. It was later outlawed.
Child marriage is a gross violation of child’s rights; it robs children of their childhood, hinders their growing up process and forces them into the dark abyss of an uncertain future. Since most of the victims of this practice are girl children, it is they who suffer most from the devastating effects of this evil practice.