Countries: Somalia
Variables: AOM-PRACTICE-1

"Bilan has faced similar abuse for reporting on people living with HIV and Aids, another story on a woman who defied local hostility to welcome HIV-positive people into her house, and on teenage orphan girls forced into early marriage and later abandoned to bring up their children alone" (par. 7).

Countries: Pakistan
Variables: AOM-PRACTICE-1

"Top independent human rights experts expressed alarm on Monday at a rise in abductions of girls as young as 13 in Pakistan, who are forced to marry and convert to Islam. In their appeal to the authorities to stop the alleged abuse, the experts warned that teenagers had been 'kidnapped from their families, trafficked … far from their homes (and) made to marry men sometimes twice their age'" (para 1-2). "In a statement urging Pakistan to uphold the rights of women and children, the group of nearly a dozen independent experts and Special Rapporteurs, maintained that Pakistan’s courts had enabled the perpetrators by accepting 'fraudulent evidence' from them, regarding the...more

Countries: India
Variables: AOM-PRACTICE-1

"She was married off to a sugar cane laborer in western India at about 14 — 'too young,' she says, 'to have any idea what marriage was'" (para 2). "Young girls are pushed into illegal child marriages so they can work alongside their husbands cutting and gathering sugar cane" (para 6). "In her wedding photographs, Ms. Chaure stares straight-faced into the camera. She had never met the groom. But that was normal. The same had happened to many of her friends. Like many rural women in Maharashtra, Ms. Chaure does not know her exact age. She figures she was about 14 on her wedding day" (para 61-62). "Several women recalled...more

Countries: Tajikistan
Variables: AOM-PRACTICE-1

"During the reporting period, representatives of the Commissioner for Human Rights actively participated in more than 42 events (conferences, round tables and workshops) on the rights and freedoms of women, gender equality, prevention of domestic violence and prevention of early marriages, among other topics" (p. 17). This suggests that there are child marriages that happen if they are working to prevent early marriages (IME - CODER COMMENT). "Fourteen theatrical educational programs reached 1,400 people on issues related to sexual and gender-based violence, including street harassment and dating violence, early and forced marriage, public bullying, healthy behaviour, and sexual reproductive health and rights in an accessible and engaging way" (p. 25)....more

Countries: Sierra Leone
Variables: AOM-PRACTICE-1

"Ms. Barrie said that her family had begun pressuring her to marry when she was 10, and that she was disowned by her father when she was 15 for refusing. She said that she had worried that she would have to drop out of school" (para 13). "Many women and girls would still have to go against their neighbors, their husbands and their families to refuse a marriage, petition to end one or seek compensation. Ms. Barrie was ostracized for refusing pressure from her family. 'All of them came together and went against me,' she said. 'I became the worst person to them.' She said that she had tried to...more

Countries: China
Variables: AOM-PRACTICE-1

"The pressure to marry began when Amiee was in her early 20s. By 25, her Chinese parents were accusing her of causing them a public loss of face because she still had no plans to wed. Her father warned her that women are worth less to a man as they near the age of 30, when — according to Chinese government propaganda — their peak childbearing time has passed. When Amiee was 29, her mother threatened to jump off a building if she didn’t find a husband" (para 1-2). "I hear similar stories from single women across China, where sexist state propaganda labels single professional women older than 27 as...more

Countries: Uganda
Variables: AOM-PRACTICE-1

"Attracted by his then status as a cattle trader and butcher, Hasahya said villagers would offer their daughters' hand in marriage, even some below the age of 18" (para 10).

Countries: Nepal
Variables: AOM-PRACTICE-1

"In a recently released judgement, the Supreme Court of Nepal held that an adult man who had married a minor female and engaged in sexual intercourse was not guilty of rape or kidnapping, but only of child marriage. The top court overturned a high court verdict that had imposed an 11-year jail term on the man. Instead, the Supreme Court reduced his prison term to six months with a fine of 10,000 Nepali rupees ($75)" (para 1-2). "The woman, who was not even 16 years old at the time of the marriage, has insisted in her testimony that she and the man were in love, and hence got married. The...more

Countries: Mauritania
Variables: AOM-PRACTICE-1, ASR-DATA-2

"It is common for parents to choose the groom themselves and marry daughters off when they are still young — more than a third of girls are married by the time they are 18 — allowing the women little choice in their partners" (para 16).

Countries: Tajikistan
Variables: MARR-PRACTICE-1, AOM-PRACTICE-1

"Amina comes from Isfara, in the northern Sughd region, but moved to the capital, Dushanbe, with her parents a long time ago. After she finished ninth grade, her parents married her off. 'They chose a husband for me. I didn't even know what he looked like, but I knew he was two years older than me,' Amina said" (para 10-11).

Countries: Malta
Variables: AOM-PRACTICE-1

"The Directorate for Child Protection Services identified a case of a forced marriage where an underage girl was wed for €5,000. "She was not old enough to get married, but her family basically promised to wed her when she was of legal age,” director Steve Libreri from the Directorate for Child Protection Services said" (para 1,2). "Libreri [from the Directorate for Child Protextive Services] said research by the directorate shows underage women are “sold” in a “promise of wedding” at very young ages. He also highlighted how individuals involved in the practice are so immersed in their community’s culture, that they find no issue with the arranged marriages. 'It is...more

Countries: Egypt
Variables: AOM-PRACTICE-1

"The draft law aims to criminalise underage marriages due to children’s lack of health and mental ability to bear the consequences of marriage" (para 1). Indicates that children are getting married, and that the government recognizes it as a problem (MB-CODER COMMENT). "The draft law requires the maazoun (‘Marriage officer’) to notify the Public Prosecution of any incident of a customary marriage in which one of the parties is a child under 18 years old at the time of marriage. A penalty of imprisonment of no less than one year and a fine between EGP 50,000 and EGP 200,000 shall be inflicted on anyone who marries a male or female,...more

Countries: Australia
Variables: AOM-PRACTICE-1

"Sydney woman Sita*, who has been supported by Randhawa’s organisation, said her whole family remained distressed by the dowry abuse she had experienced. She was betrothed in her teens and her fiance came to Australia to marry her" (para 20-21).

Countries: Lebanon
Variables: MARR-PRACTICE-1, MARR-PRACTICE-5, MARR-LAW-4, AOM-PRACTICE-1

"Child marriage is on the rise again, with parents desperate for a dowry payment of $50 to $100 (£41 to £82) and for someone else to take on the responsibility of feeding a teenager" (para 24).

Countries: Sierra Leone
Variables: AOM-PRACTICE-1

“Sierra Leone made history when the president signed into law the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2024. For a country with one of the highest rates of child marriage, teenage pregnancy and maternal mortality in the world, it is a crucial step forward, and a hard-won achievement for campaigners in west Africa” (1). “Sierra Leone has 800,000 child brides – and of those more than half were married before the age of 15, so there is no question that this is groundbreaking legislation” (2).