Understanding Child Marriages Phenomenon

Pakistan is an Islamic state where Islam is the official religion of the state. In Islam a right of choice is given to woman regarding selection a life partner. Without her consent a marriage cannot be declared as valid.

It is narrated by Ibn Abbas (R.A) that a girl came to prophet P.B.U.H and complained that her father had forced her to marry without her agreement. She was given a choice by The Messenger of Allah weather to accept the marriage or invalidate it.

Marriages in Islam are regulated by certain rules and principles and one of the rules reads like this. “Children must reach puberty and maturity so that they can get married,” Quite contrary to this in many societies marriages are enforced on persons being married and sometimes it is in quite young age. Pakistan is one of the countries where it is not a prerequisite to ask girls to whom they want to marry rather life partners are handpicked by Parents and family. Very low divorce rate in the country is taken as the success of arranged marriages. In process of arranging such marriages applicable laws of religion, country and society are often compromised which makes arranged marriage a forced marriage.

Besides forced marriages child marriages is another social which keeps popping up from time to time. Pakistan has ratified UN Convention on the Rights of Child and has to safeguard rights of children. According to UN convention mean age of marriage for a girl is 18 years as a worldwide standard.  In addition to this Muslim Family Law Ordinance ascertains that a girl must have attained the age of 16 and a boy must have attained the age of 18 and both of them are able to take decisions independently

There are many reasons behind this social crime in Pakistan.

1. Economic hardships and social inequality lead families to marry their girls at very early age. They are taken as burden on shoulders of parents and they take this as their responsibility to marry their daughters as early as possible.
2. In some instances family is not interested in the early marriage of their daughter but they are forced to do so by the society. Child marriages are often organized to settle personal grudges and to settle disputes.  Weak Justice System in Pakistan has allowed the existence of Local Court System (Pinchayat/Jirga) which often rules young girls into forced marriages as part of their decision to settle the issue. Such arrangements are called Vani and Swara. Legally this is a declared offence but such cares are rarely reported. Over the recent past there has been surge in such cases.
3. Religious myths are also a reason behind this custom. People think that they cannot proceed for Hajj without marrying their daughters. To perform one religious duty which is purely optional they compromise fundamental rules of Islam regarding marriages.

However Child marriage is not a phenomenon which particularly relates to Islam and Pakistan. As often believed Islam does not support or promote child marriages and sets a precondition of attaining puberty and maturity for a valid marriage. Islam also sets a condition of being able to take independent decisions besides providing privilege of choice to both male and female. Many countries like United States do not have legislation in place to prevent early age marriages. Early age marriages is a global phenomenon which needs to be addressed in isolation from religious or demographic associations.

The report of The International Center for Research on Women is an eye opener in this regard. ICRW report provides following statistics regarding issue under discussion.

1. An estimated 51 million girls get married before reaching the age of 18. Median age of child marriages is 15 but some are married at the age of less than 10 years.
2. Majority of child marriages cases occur in West and East Africa and South Asia.
3. Another 100 million girls are vulnerable to become child brides over the next decade. 4. Child marriage endangers girls as they experience a higher frequency of home violence, nuptial abuse and divorce.
4. Child marriage cause maternal mortality and infant mortality rates to increase.
5. It increases the risk of disease like HIV/Aids.
6. Child marriage cause increase in school dropouts.
7. Child marriages are strongly related with poverty levels in the society.

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