Parliamentary committee believes eloping girls are causing rise in child marriage

Underage girls eloping under the influence of unrestricted internet use amid the coronavirus pandemic are giving a rise to the rate of child marriage in Bangladesh, a parliamentary committee believes.

The parliamentary standing committee on women and children’s affairs had proposed a survey to find out the reasons behind the rise in child marriage and eloping of girls in a previous meeting, according to the minutes of its meeting on Wednesday.

The committees to prevent child marriage were tasked with conducting the survey and act accordingly.    

Parliamentary committee chief Meher Afroze, who raised the eloping issue in the last meeting on Jun 27, said on Wednesday: “We’ve asked for the survey because no one speaks about the fact that child marriage is rising because of girls leaving home to secretly marry after developing relationship.”   

“We’re receiving information that more and more young girls are getting into a relationship because of the unrestricted use of the internet in this pandemic,” she said.

The ministry informed the parliamentary committee about the progress in implementing the proposal.

It said it had sent letters to the Department of Women Affairs, director general of Shishu Academy and the executive director of the Jatiyo Mohila Sangstha on the issue.

Women’s rights activists blame a special provision legalising marriages “under special circumstances to ensure the best interest of an adolescent” for the increasing number of child marriage incidents in Bangladesh.

The legal loophole has paved the path for parents, who feel unsafe amid a rise in sexual violence against women and financially insecure due to the economic fallout of the pandemic, to marry off their daughters, bdnews24.com reported in October last year.

The United Nations said in May this year child marriage is increasing at alarming levels in many places around the world as the coronavirus pandemic is reversing years of hard-earned progress toward keeping young women in school.

What especially concerns advocates for children is the clear link between marrying early and dying young. Pregnancy complications and childbirth are the leading cause of death in girls aged 15 to 19 in developing countries, according to the World Health Organization, and the children of child brides are at a much higher risk of infant mortality.

Experts say the pandemic has intensified the factors that drive child marriage, such as a lack of education, economic hardship, parental death and teen pregnancy, which has been amplified by disruptions in getting contraception.