The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has warned that underage marriage affects a significant number of girls in Afghanistan and poses a serious threat to their education and health.<\/p>\n
The agency said today, Sunday, 19 Mizan, on the occasion of International Day of the Girl, that according to the Afghanistan Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey, 28.7 percent of women aged 20 to 24 were married before reaching the age of 18. UNICEF added that in some parts of Afghanistan, one in every two girls is married before the age of 18.<\/p>\n
UNICEF says child marriage has profound consequences for girls’ health and well-being, disrupts their education, and limits their future opportunities. The agency also said the practice increases the risk of violence and social isolation and heightens the dangers associated with early pregnancy and childbirth.<\/p>\n
According to UNICEF, deaths from pregnancy complications are one of the leading causes of death among girls aged 15 to 19 in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n
At the same time, the agency stressed that preventing child marriage is possible and claimed that over the past 25 years, 68 million child marriages have been prevented globally through investment in girls’ education, legal reforms and social support.<\/p>\n
UNICEF said curbing underage marriage in Afghanistan requires collective action, including protecting every girl’s right to education, strengthening support and protection for girls, supporting vulnerable families and communities, listening to girls’ voices, and investing in essential services.<\/p>\n
The agency added that, “Although education alone cannot end child marriage, keeping girls in school is one of the most effective ways to protect their rights,” and once again called on Taliban authorities to reopen schools to girls above grade six.<\/p>\n
UNICEF also called for coordinated action by families, communities and local stakeholders, including religious and community leaders, service providers and the international community, to end child marriage. The agency said it continues to work with communities, local stakeholders and its partners to prevent child marriage and protect girls at risk, and supports adolescent girls, including adolescent mothers, in accessing education, life skills, health services and protection services.<\/p>\n
Tajudeen Oyewale, UNICEF’s representative in Afghanistan, said in a statement: “On this International Day of the Girl, let us renew our commitment to ending child marriage by promoting a healthy childhood, continuing advocacy for access to education, and supporting opportunities that allow every girl in Afghanistan to build her own future.”<\/p>\n
Since regaining power in Afghanistan, the Taliban have banned girls above grade six from education. According to United Nations figures, as a result of this ban about 2.5 million girls have been deprived of education and schooling, a matter that has coincided with reports of a rise in child marriage in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
UNICEF warns child marriage is widespread in Afghanistan, threatening girls’ education, health and future opportunities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23749,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-important-news","category-social-affairs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23750\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}