Prof. Dr. Ayşe AkınBaşkent University Medical Faculty, Public Health

Department & Woman- Child Health andFamily Planning Research and Implementation Center

CHILD BRIDESCHILD BRIDES

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15

19Age

YouthYouth

Young peopleYoung people

AdolescenceAdolescence

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ChildhoodChildhood

50 % 50 % of world population is under the age of 25.of world population is under the age of 25.8585% lives in devoloping countries.% lives in devoloping countries.

CURRENTLY THERE ARE OVER 60 MILLION CHILD BRIDES

IN VARIOUS REGIONS OF THE WORLD

Each year: All over the world, 16 million girls gave births (over a hundred tousand of them take place in Turkey) This year’s subject of World’s population day is announced by UNFPA as “adolescents’ pregnancies”

Child brides are unfortunately the reality of the world and Turkey

It is the violation of women’s rights

In reality, early and / or forced marriages, son preferences, dowry practices , berdel all based on similar grounds;

Which are:

Powerty Patriarchal structure Gender discrimination Lack of education in society but especially the women’s lack of education Low status of women (lack of education economical dependency etc.)

Right to Make Choice for Marriage and Family Building

Every person, male or female, has the right to choose when and whom to marry or not.

No one can be forced to marry for any reason.

No one can be forced to pursue an unwanted marriage or a marriage with an unwanted person.

Some Reasons behind early and forced marriages:

Economic reasons (bride price is seen as an income for the family)

Social belief that a woman must be protected by and belong to a man, that belief is perpetuated by patriarchal traditions and religious beliefs

“Honor”, as defined for women by some cultures ,also has a role to play in early marriages,since marriage is seen to be a method of keeping woman’s body under control

Role models also constitute a reason There are women who are married off to

take care of family members with disabilities or with chronic illness

Some Consequences of early marriages: Early marriage, an obvious result of gender

inequality, is one of the major obstacles before equal opportunities

Early marriages mean increased risk for phisical,emotional,verbal and sexual violence against women

Early marriages interrupt girls’ schooling /education, in their future life cannot benefit from employement opportunities

Early marriage means early motherhood in most cases. MMR for women between the ages of 15- 19 are four times higher than in older ages

Early pregnancy increases risks of miscarriage and stillbirth and prematur birth

International Regulations: International documents consider “child marriage”

as a human rights violation (ie.Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)

Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) "States Parties in any condition shall protect children against any forms of exploitation, that could damage the well-being of children."

CEDAW (1979) (women should have the same rights as men in terms of voluntarily choose a spouse and marry)

Child marriage is the violation of human rights (Universal Convention on Human Rights (item16)

According to this item “marriage act can only be made by the free and complete consent of the couples

Child marriage is also the violation of several items of the “Convention on Rights of the Child”

Due to early marriages; In developing countries nearly 82 million young girls stop their education.

Most of the 16 million adolescents who give birth each year, are facing serious health consequencies due to pregnancy complications.

Early pregnancies: Maternal death in young women aged between 15-19 four times more than women in their early twenties

According to the sociologists, population in developmental stage (age between 14-19) is defined as socially immature.

Individuals in this age group, are considered as they are insufficient in adapting to the necessary social roles and have not completed their social development.

Therefore, the girls married in this age range break away from their friends , loose their self confidence and cannot participate in community activities after marriage.

Girls are imprisoned a life long dependent on husband by her own family.

Moreover, families consider these unacceptable social, medical and legal facts as “normal”

As child marriages usually take place in the form of unlawful marriages, child brides, deprive of civil rights, that is gained legal marriage.

Child brides who failed to continue their education because of marriage, and thus deprived of the right to education, are also deprived of right to work, and participation in production.

This situation causes the decline in the status of women in society, and being exposed to more intense gender discrimination.

In Early Marriages;

Some Information / Data on Child Brides in Turkey;

15.5% according to General Directorate of Population and Citizenship Affairs

General Directorate of Population and Citizenship Affairs doesn’t register the early marriages based on religious wedding.

Estimation of Rate of child brides in Turkey today: 30 - 35%

In Turkey, one of every three married women had child marriage

According to Turkey – DHS, 2008 , age of marriage for girls decreased to 12

EARLY MARRIAGESEARLY MARRIAGESThe definition of the concept of child bride

changes according to the law in Turkish legal system.

Girls under the age of 17, according to the Turkish Civil Code,

Girls under the age of 18, according to the Law on Child Protection,

Girls under the age of 15, according to the Turkish Penal Code, are treated as child brides.

This inconsistency between the laws causes the inefficiency in fighting against the early marriages of the girls from traditional families

Women and girls are not aware of their rights but demand to know them

Girls demand that awareness raising campaigns to prevent early and forced marriages should target families , with a spesific focus on the father/ men

There is lack of awareness in many public officials as well as local governments.

Women who experience early marriage do not want their daughters to experience.These women tend to say ‘women should get married after the age of 25’; ‘When they have a job’; Some don’t even want their daughter to get married in the first place.

Some findings from the field study of the 2010-2011 carried out by Flying Broom-Uçan Süpürge-Turkey)

A Sub Commission was established at the Turkish National Grand Assembly to investigate the causes and consequences of early marriages

GD of the Status of Woman is planning to carry out a nationwide study on early marriages in Turkey

Several research and advocacy activities have been carried out by the University Research and Implementation Centers as well as by the NGOs in Turkey

Some activities to fight against early marriages in Turkey

According to physicians, the age range 14-21 is the maturation period of reproguctive system . The girls in this age range have not completed reproductive and sexual development yet.

Thus, after marriage, married girls in this age range may have serious health problems such as, inability to conceive, miscarriage, premature birth, difficult labor, increased BP in pregnancy, and cervical cancer

Girls who are not ready to have sex biologically and find themselves in sexual acts by child marriage, may have several sexual and reproductive disease, and also permanent psychological problems.

Thus, it is not sociologically and medically acceptable to make girls marry before the age of eighteen for any reason.

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Some unwanted consequences of adolescent pregnancies/births: Malnutrition, anemia Adolescent mother may ignore or injure herself or her baby. As development of the pelvis completed at 20-22 years of age, difficult birth in adolescent pregnancies are common. "Pregnancy poisoning", called "toxemia", "eclampsia“ is     more frequent. Miscarriage, stillbirth Excessive bleeding, Premature birth and low birth weight infants are more common Compared to births aged 20-24, Pregnancy and childbirth-related deaths (maternal mortality) in the age group 15-16 are 3-4 times greater.

Lack of access to health servicesPregnancy poisoningAnemiaDifficult deliverySevere bleedingFrequent pregnancies Unwanted pregnanciesInduced abortionsStillbirthsMaternal mortality (2-5 times higher)Leaving education Loosing working opportunityPovertyDivorce and separationVIOLENCE

Being unwanted child Intrauterin growth retardation Low birth weight Prematurity Stillbirth Infant mortality Growth retardation Child abuse School failure and dropping out of school Unemployment / poverty

Problems in adolescent mothers and their babies:

Adolescent Mother Their Babies

According to 2008 DHS Turkey

20.9 % of women aged 15-19 years, illiterate / didn’t finished primary school

9.6% of women aged 15-19 years are married

36,5% of women age of 15-19 had one live birth, 3,7% had two live births, 0,6% had three live births.

Contraceptive method usage in this age group: Any method: 40.2 Any modern method: 17.6

Distribution of mothers or pregnant women aged 15-19 years according to some characteristics (2008 – DHS Turkey)

Characteristics Already mother %

Pregnant to first child %

Beginners to bear children%

Age

15 0.4 0.0 0.416 1.7 0.5 2.217 1.3 3.1 4.418 6.6 3.1 9.719 9.4 3.5 12.9

Place of settlement

Urban 3.1 1.9 5.0Rural 6.5 2.1 8.6

Region

West 3.8 1.8 5.5South 3.2 1.3 4.5Middle 4.2 3.3 7.5North 3.1 1.5 4.6East 4.4 1.8 6.1

Education

Illiterate/unfinished primary school 5.5 1.6 7.2

Primary school 3.4 4.2 7.6Secondary school 0.7 0.3 1.0

High school and more 2.6 1.3 3.9Total 3.9 2.0 5.9

If the current trend is continued during the next decade there will be 142 million child brides in the world , which means 14.2 milion child brides per year

Early marriages, berdel, son preference, are serious burden on girls not only the mental health of the women but physical and social health as well

Although all those practices are violation of women's human rights.

Unfortunatelly in many societies all those are accepted as "normal”

WE SHOULD GIVE HER A CHANCE !!

SOLUTION

The mismatch / discrepancies between laws in Turkey should be eliminated and the marriage of girls before completing the age of 18 should be prohibited.

Raise awareness in the community on “early marriages are the violation of human rights”

Ensuring Gender Equality Empowering woman and raising the Status of Women Changing Social Structure of the community PREVENTION OF POVERTY

Negative cultural values legitimized by misinterpretation of religious and traditional codes, must be discarded.

Liquidation of negative cultural values is possible by placing the values based on the laws, civilized social orders, scientific approaches, instead of only religious and traditional morality, in the society.

Decision makers / policy makers have not only an important role to play on this issue but also obligations to full fill.

The most effective actions / strategies;

Solution continue…..

Integrating gender perspective into main plans, programs, laws and regulations of the country (gender mainstreaming-GEM)

GEM, should be considered in the preparation phase of legislations,

To achieve this, decision-makers must have a "gender sensitive perspective”

Words should be translated into actions to ensure the implementation of the laws and regulations.