Momina Caton was a little desperate. In two months, she was due to give birth to her first child, but at this critical moment, her husband was arrested. "Where should I go? I have no one to rely on, and my children and I will starve to death alone..."
Momina is from the northeastern Indian state of Assam. Her childhood was not happy: at the age of 8, her father remarried; A few months later, her mother abandoned her, and Momina lived with her aunt in a small village.
At the age of 17, Momina became a "child bride" whose aunt married her off to a local farmer. Earlier this month, Assam began an iron-fisted campaign against child marriage, with Momina's husband being one of more than 3,000 arrested for marrying an underage wife.
India has the largest number of "child brides" in the world. Although the legal age of marriage for women in India is 18, about 1.5 million women enter marriage before the age of 18 every year.
Now, Assam has embarked on the largest campaign against child marriage in recent years. But behind this action is India's intractable child marriage dilemma.
"War" on child marriage
Located in the mountains of northeast India, Assam is a beautiful and rich place. Agriculture and farming are predominant, with more than 70% of the state's population of more than 30 million people dependent on agriculture.
Recently, some people in Assam have been panicking because the government has begun to "declare war" on child marriage.
On January 23 this year, the Assam cabinet issued an order directing the police to start a campaign against illegal child marriage, arresting and prosecuting those who violated the law.
Under this order, men married to girls under the age of 14 will be registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences, and men married to girls between the ages of 14 and 18 will be registered under the Child Marriage Prevention Act.
On February 3, Assam police began their operation with lightning speed, arresting more than 2,000 people in less than 48 hours. So far, more than 3,000 people have been arrested in the operation, including people who marry underage women and those who help register and arrange such marriages.
"Our campaign against child marriage continues." Assam Chief Minister Shimanta Biswar Sarma posted on social media Twitter on February 9 that "the fight against such social demons will continue." ”
According to Sarma, the campaign against child marriage in Assam is mainly motivated by public health and welfare concerns. He said the rate of teenage pregnancies in Assam was "very worrying".
According to India's fifth National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5), conducted in 2019-2020, 31.8% of women aged 20 to 24 in Assam were married before the age of 18, well above the national average of 23.3%.
More worryingly, 11.7 per cent of women aged 15 to 19 in Assam are pregnant and have children, 4.9 percentage points higher than the national average.
As a result, infant and maternal mortality rates in Assam are also well above the national average. According to the 2020 Sample Registration System report released by the Registrar General of India (RGI) in September 2022, the maternal mortality rate in Assam is 195 per 100,000 people, the highest in the country. The infant mortality rate in the state is also higher than the national average.
Sarma called on the people of Assam to support and cooperate in the fight against child marriage in order to completely abandon the practice. "We are determined to continue this operation until we achieve our goals." He said the fight against child marriage would continue until the 2026 parliamentary elections.
The manhunt continues in the Assam area. According to Indian media reports, the number of registered cases related to child marriage in Assam is 4,135, and the number of suspects exceeds 8,000. Because of the large number of people arrested, the Assam government converted a transit camp and a gymnasium into a temporary prison for those arrested.
According to India Today, the Assam government is currently focusing on measures to prevent child marriage, with the core of which is to create an official responsible for banning child marriage in each village in the state. If child marriage occurs in the area, the official must immediately report it to the police. In addition, the Assam government has established a cabinet subcommittee responsible for the aftermath of the "victims" of child marriage.
In an interview with New Delhi television (NDTV) on February 7, Sarma said: "Our idea is not to put them in prison, but to firmly demonstrate that society is against child marriage." ”
223 million "child brides"
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) refers to formal marriages or informal unions in which one or both men and women are under the age of 18 as "child marriage." Child marriage affects both boys and girls, but girls are far more affected than boys.
Worldwide, India is not the country with the highest rate of child marriage, but it is definitely the country with the highest number of child brides. According to data released by UNICEF in February 2019, about one-third of the world's child brides come from India, totalling about 223 million, of which 102 million child brides were married before the age of 15.
In fact, under India's Child Marriage Prohibition Act, passed in 2006, the legal age of marriage in India is 18 for women and 21 for men. However, child marriage is still fairly common in many parts of India, where about a quarter of young women are married before the age of 18.
According to the Times of India, child marriage is particularly acute in northern India, where child marriage is widespread in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Gujarat. In addition, the rate of child marriage is much higher in rural areas than in urban areas.
"Child marriage is undoubtedly a violation of human rights, and it has a disastrous impact on children's development and future development." Soledad Herrero, UNICEF's head of child protection programmes in India, said in an interview with the Beijing News.
On October 16, 2022, local time, in a slum in New Delhi, India, women launched the "No Child Marriage India" campaign, calling on the government to eradicate child marriage. Photo/Visual China
Speaking about the large number of child brides in India, Herrero said that this is partly because of India's very large population base, and on the other hand, the deep-seated factors that lead to the problem of child marriage in India still exist, including education, poverty, employment opportunities, women's rights and so on. Moreover, "child marriage is arguably one of the main culprits of the intergenerational cycle of poverty. ”
Lack of education and living in poverty are identified as two core drivers of child marriage. Reetika Subramanian from Mumbai, India, told the Beijing News that in India, the government-provided compulsory education lasts until the eighth grade (6-14 years old), after which many young girls will fall out of school and then have to marry early.
"Especially in rural areas, this phenomenon is very common. This does not mean that parents do not love their children, it is just that it is a social tradition and they do not have more options. ”
Subramanian said that in some cases, child marriage may be an economic decision for a family, and getting children married early can reduce the burden of supporting the family; In some cases, this may also be out of protection for the child, because of the fear that the daughter will elope with someone, or because the child will become pregnant early and have to arrange a marriage for him.
"In other cases, child marriage could be a response to the climate crisis. For example, in the face of climate disasters such as floods and droughts, family life is more difficult, and arranging child marriage is also an option. Subramanian is currently pursuing an interdisciplinary PhD in gender studies at the University of Cambridge, where one of her research focuses on the relationship between climate change and child marriage.
"At the end of the day, economic conditions play a critical role in child marriage." Subranmanian said that the economic situation determines whether the family can make ends meet, whether the children can continue to go to school, whether the family members can get more opportunities, and so on. "In other words, I think child marriage is not just a legal issue, it is a social issue; It is not only the result of problems such as poverty and inequality, but also the cause of these problems. ”
Despair after the husband's arrest
In Sarma's eyes, the crackdown on child marriage is a legal operation to save child brides, but in the eyes of so many child brides, arrest after arrest has only brought more despair.
On February 3, Kulsum Khan, a 23-year-old woman from Assam, committed suicide fearing her parents' arrest. Kursum married at the age of 14 and has since had two children with her husband. In 2020, her husband died of the new coronavirus, and Kulsum moved back to her parents' house with her children.
According to the BBC, Kursum became very nervous after hearing that the Assam police had begun a arrest operation against child marriage. Although her father told her that they didn't have to worry because her husband had died, Kursum, fearing that his parents would be arrested for it, chose to end his life.
The tragedy doesn't stop there. On 5 February, a 17-year-old girl committed suicide after her parents did not allow her to marry her lover. Her parents had reportedly promised their daughter to marry as soon as possible, but after the Assam police began to act, they changed their attitude for fear of arrest.
In addition to this, on February 4, a 23-year-old Assam woman came to the door of the police station and demanded that the police release her father and husband or she would commit suicide. Police did not agree and fainted while seeing police taking her father and husband to the court.
Since the police began cracking down on child marriage, there have been protests in many parts of Assam. Especially in poor communities, many women went to the police station to protest and demand the release of their husbands or other family members.
Nachia Begum, from the Assam Bapeta district, was among the protesters. She told Radio France Internationale (RFI), "My son is the main breadwinner, he is arrested, who will take care of the whole family?" How should we live? ”
Momina also joined the protests. The BBC reports that most child brides are uneducated, living in poverty, and dependent on family members such as husbands or fathers, and their arrest will only make their lives worse.
The arrests by the Assam police have sparked some social controversy. Ranjana Kumari, a women's rights activist and director of India's Centre for Social Research, said the Assam campaign would only result in child brides losing the financial support they could rely on.
"We are against child marriage... But such actions only exacerbate the injustices to young girls. Kumari told El País that one reason many girls are forced into child marriage is that they are seen as a burden by their families of origin, and now that their husbands and fathers have been arrested, their lives are not secure.
Mary Jone, a retired professor at the Centre for Women's Development Studies (CWDS) in India, made it clear in an interview with the Beijing News that "this [Assam police operation] is a very bad practice, let alone the answer to child marriage." ”
Jon has long been interested in women's rights in India and has in-depth research on child marriage. She said that arresting men in the family and keeping women in the home did nothing to solve the problem. "Child brides do not have the ability to live independently, they are dependent on their husbands, and when their husbands are arrested, their lives will only be harder."
"In my opinion, child marriage is not the worst thing, the worst thing is that women have no choice, no way to independence." "So the arrest of men in child marriage by the Assam police does not give girls a sense of security, it only exacerbates their worries and fears." ”
Rihanna Bibi from Assam is desperate. She told The Citizen, an Indian media outlet, that the police had taken her son, who had just married in January and is applying to continue his studies, without giving any explanation.
"I don't understand why I took my son... We also don't know what to do. Rihanna said her daughter-in-law depended on her son for her life, "What should she do? ”
The plight of child marriage in India
In India, child marriage is a social issue that cannot be ignored. Because India's ancient religious code fully affirms child marriage, it has become a social tradition in the minds of many. But as the 20th century came in, India became aware of the drawbacks of child marriage. Over the past few decades, India has made remarkable progress in combating child marriage.
According to India's Fifth National Family Health Survey, the rate of child marriage in India was as high as 47.4% in 2005-2006; Ten years later, in 2015-2016, that percentage dropped to 26.8 percent. Over the next five years, this figure has continued to decline, and by 2020-2021, it has fallen to 23.3%.
One of India's most notable initiatives to combat child marriage was the passage in 2006 of the Child Marriage Prohibition Act, which sets a minimum age of marriage at 18 for women and 21 for men, as well as combating child marriage offences and providing appropriate assistance to affected children. In addition, the Indian government has launched several public education campaigns on the dangers of child marriage and the importance of ensuring girls' education and empowering women.
"Through a multifaceted effort, India has achieved significant results in reducing child marriage over the past 15 years, with the number of child marriages almost halved. That's what we should be sure of. Herrero told the Beijing News reporter.
However, she stressed that child marriage is a multifaceted and complex issue that is deeply rooted in India's socio-historical traditions. Legal measures to combat child marriage therefore need to be complemented by more comprehensive interventions, such as strengthening education, expanding social services, promoting gender equality, and providing more employment opportunities for women.
In the Indian state of Gujarat, Sandia, 15, and Asha, 17, join their mothers in home visits by community volunteers who help raise awareness of child marriage and encourage parents to continue educating their daughters. Photo: UNICEF/UN0652678/Panjwani
"Preventive laws can act as a deterrent, but it is even more important to strengthen cooperation with communities. We need to make society aware of the devastating impact of child marriage on women, families and communities, and do more to promote its elimination through a more balanced strategy. Herrero said.
Subramanian agrees that legal action against child marriage is necessary because it has a profound impact on girls' health and development. However, when it comes to child marriage, the legal perspective alone cannot completely solve this problem. "Actions like the Assam police will only lead to more people sneaking child marriages or concealing them." "It could also make many people who are struggling with one of the root causes of child marriage: poverty, more vulnerable," Subramanian said. ”
Child marriage is not an isolated problem, and it will not be easy to solve it completely. "I'm not sure when we'll end it, but we have to recognize that child marriage is not only a consequence of poverty, it is also a cause," Subramanian said. That is why we must work together, on multiple levels, to help reduce and progressively eliminate illegal child marriage. ”
Indian media outlet IndraStra pointed out that because child marriages are mostly held in remote areas, it is difficult to track and prosecute related acts. In addition, the potential for retaliation and prejudice against reporting child marriage has discouraged many people from reporting it, which has led to a perpetuation of child marriage.
In addition, the pandemic has exacerbated the problem of child marriage in India. According to India's "The Week" magazine, comparing the data of India's National Criminal Records Bureau in 2019 and 2020, it can be seen that illegal child marriage cases in India increased by 49.52% in 2020. Compared to 2015, child marriage cases in India increased by 167.92%.
Analysts pointed out that under the epidemic, India has carried out multiple rounds of lockdown, and many girls have dropped out of school. At the same time, many family incomes have been affected, resulting in parents being more inclined to arrange child marriages to ease the pressure on family survival.
"India's economic growth has been rapid over the past few decades, but women's development has not kept pace, women's employment opportunities have not increased significantly, and their options are still very limited." Jon pointed out that although there have been many women's movements and child protection movements in India in recent years, they have not had enough impact on society, which has made it difficult to eliminate child marriage.
According to Herrero, India is on the right path to ending child marriage, which is now much lower than in previous generations. According to UNICEF, the incidence of child marriage in India fell from 61 per cent in 1991 to 27 per cent in 2016.
However, to achieve the goal of ending child marriage by 2030, India will need to accelerate action at all levels, including education, health, social protection, and social change efforts.
From the perspective of young people, "we should provide more platforms and opportunities for young people, especially girls, to participate in civic activities, join various social groups, and give them the opportunity to realize their professional ambitions outside the family." "We're going to give them wings." ”
Beijing News reporter Xie Lian
Edited by Zhang Lei Proofread by Lijun Li