3.5 Child Marriage and Violations of Child Rights in Karnali Province
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3.5 Child Marriage and Violations of Child Rights in Karnali Province Background riage deprives children of their basic arriage is a legal, religious, rights and also from making decisions for Mand cultural practice for es- aligning their path for future. tablishing social relationship between Rates of child marriage in Nepal two persons. Paragraph 11 of Civil Crimi- vary by regions, settlement, economic and nal Code 2017 has specified 20 years as social status, ethnicity, religion and com- the marriageable age and marriages be- munity and settlements. According to the fore the attainment of the age is illegal UN Fund for Population, 43 percent girls and punishable. from rural areas and 27 percent from ur- The Constitution of Nepal has ban areas marry before they turn 18. The recognized child marriage as violation of data further revealed that the age of mar- Child Rights. The Human Rights Watch riage of school going girls was 22 years in 2016 said 37 percent girls marry be- and that for girls not going to school was fore 18 years of age in Nepal, which had 17 years. Likewise, girls with poor eco- been covered in a newscast by BBC Ne- nomic conditions married two years ear- pali Service. The Government’s strategy lier than others. Reports and studies have against child marriage says that Nepal demonstrated that child marriage preva- lies behind only India and Bangladesh lence is high in Karnali Province. among nations with highest number of child marriages. Similarly, another report Problems Resulting from by UNICEF (2017) said that 40 percent Child Marriage Nepali girls marry before their 18th birth- Children marrying before the age day and seven percent before they turn 15 of 20 are deprived of education and the years. The reasons that lead to child mar- opportunities to engage in economic ac- riage are gender discrimination, poverty, tivities once they are entrusted with re- illiteracy, and insecurity, among others. sponsibilities that come with marriage. Nepal is among the 16 countries Child marriage affects the development with the highest number of child marriag- of capacities for personal growth and lack es in the world. And more girls in Nepal of ability and missed opportunities traps are married before age compared to boys. such persons in a vicious cycle of challeng- The Population and Health Survey of Ne- es. Human Rights Watch said children pal, 2011, has shown that 41 percent of are deprived of right to education due to girls between 20 and 24 years of age were early marriage and early marriage leads married. At the same time, according to to premature pregnancy, which can be life UNICEF (2017), one in every 10 boys of threatening to both mother and child. marry before 18 years of age. Child mar- 88 Child Marriage and Violations of Child Rights in Karnali Province INSEC’s Human Rights Yearbooks strategies, laws, and previous studies of and the report of UNICEF have reported the Government as part of the research on the increase of sexual violence against for this article. Discussions on data on children and particularly on those who child marriage were done with stakehold- marry early. Early marriage contributes ers in Salyan District of Karnali Province. to increase in poverty and other problems The participants included representatives like the trafficking of girls, divorce, and of different organizations and political violence against women. Analysis of di- parties. The study has used data of the vorce cases at the district courts shows Health Service Department of Salyan, the the majority of those seeking divorce were District Police Office, provincial police, under 25 years of age. Likewise, the re- and the District Court of Salyan in the port of Health Service Department in analysis. The researcher also consulted Salyan District showed that 25 percent various publications on child marriage of maternity admissions were girls under published nationally and at the inter- the age of 20 years. national level. The study has also incor- porated the views from the interviews, Objectives group discussions, and meetings with dif- The objectives of this article are, ferent stakeholders in Salyan district. • To analyze the status child marriage in Salyan district and disseminate Status of Child Marriage in the information with the stakehold- Karnali Province ers. According to the 2011 census, 52 • To strengthen the collaboration of percent of girls in the Karnali region mar- human rights organizations for end- ried before the age of 18 years. Most of the ing child marriage. child marriages took place in Rukum Pas- chim with 71 percent and the least num- Research Methods ber in Dolpa District (50%). The census The writer reviewed commitments, Percentage of Girls Getting Married befor the Age of 20 (District-wise) Source: National Population Census, 2011 Nepal Human Rights Year Book 2021 89 reported the following data on child mar- Status of Child Marriage in Salyan riage in the districts in the Karnali Prov- Remote parts of Salyan District ince: Salyan and Jumla 70 percent each, have high prevalence of child marriage. Dailekh 71 percent, Jajarkot 66 percent, Even though no official data on child mar- Kalikot 59 percent, Mugu 57 percent and riage in the District is available, data of Humla 52 percent. maternity, polygamy, divorce and com- Child marriage remains as the ma- plaints at the Police office reveal a high jor child protection issue in Karnali Prov- number of child marriage. ince. Different Government and non-gov- According to data at Salyan Dis- ernment organizations (NGOs) have been trict Hospital, it had provided maternity working to reduce child marriages in the services to 777 women between April 2020 region. However, there has been no ma- and November 2020 and among them, 192 jor decrease in the number of child mar- (25%) girls were below the age of 20 years. riages. Earlier, parents were the cause for Six girls unable to have a normal delivery early marriage as they wanted to marry and had to be operated. Similarly, there off their children. This has changed and were other complications the position of today, more and more children have be- the child in seven cases, three had exces- gun opting for marriage, without consent sive bleeding, two had respiratory issues, of parents. and in one case the baby had died in the The Criminal Procedure (Code) mother’s womb. Act, 2074 (2017), (Section 173), sub- Child marriage is illegal and it section 1 has specified 20 years as the takes time before the cases reach court. marriageable age but Nepal has cases of Many such cases reach court seeking di- marriage even before the age of 10 years. vorce and complaints about polygamy Child marriage is most prevalent for chil- only when the girls reach 20 years of dren between ages of 15-19 years. age or more. Among cases registered for The highest percentage of child divorce at the District Court in 2019/20, marriage was in age group 15-19 years, in there were women below the age of 25 Salyan District (62.88%). Overall Dailekh years in 39 of the 102 cases. Majority of and Jumla had the highest percentage of them had married when they were un- child marriage in 2011. derage. Further, there were nine cases of Table 1: Child marriage by age in districts of Karnali Province (%) District Below 10 years 10-14 years 15-19 years Rukum West 0.08 9.71 61.27 Salyan 0.1 6.9 62.88 Surkhet 0.49 9.69 58.64 Dailekh 0.75 11.19 58.72 Jajarkot 0.22 7.53 58.11 Dolpa 0.11 4.11 45.73 Jumla 0.52 10.72 58.52 Kalikot 0.43 8.09 50.65 Mugu 0.14 5.07 52.18 Humla 0.12 6.15 46.11 Source: National Population Census, 2011 90 Child Marriage and Violations of Child Rights in Karnali Province child marriage registered in the court in case even resort to violent acts. There are 2019/20. In most of these cases, the couple both short- and long-term impacts of child had married without the consent of the marriage. The immediate impacts of child parents. marriage are, Another indication of the high • Possibility of physical and mental prevalence were stickers that the Salyan disorder. Police Office had posted on the houses of • Possibility of divorce at an early age. people with messages against child mar- • Loss of rights to health and educa- riages. The messages sought collabora- tion. tion of local people to address the problem • Risk of death of mother and child and had contact numbers of all local bod- during pregnancy and ies, ambulance, administration, and ju- • Deprivation of proper physical and dicial agencies that could be contacted to mental development. report about such marriages. The police Similarly, the longer-term impacts said the campaign had been successful. are financial problems including the in- INSEC documentation also showed that ability to run the family, effects on repro- police had investigated 23 people in rela- ductive health, deprivation of education, tion to five cases of child marriage, and likelihood of domestic violence and associ- had prevented 10 such marriages from ated problems. taking place. Social and Family Reunions Impact of Child Marriage Nepali law does not recognize mar- Child marriage can have a per- riage of couples below 20 years of age. manent effects and sometimes even re- There is need for psychosocial counselling sult in lasting psychological problems. In in the cases of child marriage. There were cases where parents have prevented or no mechanisms for counselling underage annulled the marriage those concerned couples and children in general in Salyan develop feelings of inferiority and unac- District.