My mom was just 4 years old when she got engaged. But girls at such an age should be studying at school and enjoying their own adolescence, and not worrying about their husbands or their children. Child marriage, defined as marriage before the age of 18 years, is considered a violation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which the Philippines ratified in Indeed, a recent report by UNFPA Asia-Pacific Regional Office that compared data from various Asian countries from to revealed that the Philippines has shown very little change in the percentage of women who were married at the ages 15 to 19, while countries like Republic of Korea, Indonesia and India reduced that percentage to less than half during the last 50 years.
Edwin M. Many of adolescent brides are exposed to early and frequently repeated pregnancies and childbirth before they become physically mature and psychologically ready for responsible motherhood. Evidence shows that adolescent mothers between the ages of 15 and 19 are twice as likely to die of pregnancy and childbirth complications as women between the ages of 20 and The children of teen mothers too are twice as likely to die as a child of a woman in her 20s.
Even when they survive, many of them have lower weight and stunting. In addition, child brides are more likely to experience domestic violence. The Code of Muslim Personal Laws sets a lower age for marriage β 15 years old for male and 12 years old for females as long as she has attained puberty.
Frequent conflicts and disasters in the region also seem to play a part. As an attempt at curbing this trend, Sam and four other young girls from Mulondo, a municipality in Lanao del Sur, 20 km south of Marawi City, initiated the Panginam project. The youth-led initiative is providing livelihood opportunities, life skills and psychological support to young Maranao couples who are at risk of child marriage or already involved in such relationship, with the technical and financial assistance of UNFPA Philippines.
Then we can break the cycle of poverty in future generations. We give them hope for future. UNFPA is also planning to collaborate with NGO to unearth essential data to provide a more accurate picture of the child marriage situation in the country.
