Forced Marriage and Child Brides

CHILD MARRIAGE- whereby child are given in matrimony before marriageable age. Girls as young as 8 are married to men, often much older, for a variety of reasons. If present trends continue, 142 million girls will marry over the next decade.

• One in three girls in developing countries will probably be married before they are 18
• One out of nine girls will be married before their 15th birthday
• Over 67 million women 20-24 years old in 2010 had been married as girls
• Half of these marriages occurred in Asia

Where does this happen? Today such customs are fairly widespread in parts of Africa, Asia, Oceania and South America. This blog will focus on the marriages that occur in Asia.

Child Marriage Hot Spots and % of girls married before 18

1. Mali 55%
2. Niger 75%
3. Chad 72%
4. Bangladesh 66%
5. Guinea 63%
6. C.A.R. 61%
7. Mozambique 52%
8. Malawi 50%
9. Madagascar 48%
10. Sierra Leone 48%
11. Burkina Faso 48%
12. India 47%

Why? Child marriage happens for a variety of reasons. Often it is due to the cultural history of the area, where importance is placed upon female virginity, the perceived inability of women to work for money, and to women's shorter reproductive life relative to men's. Further, parents are often poor and use the marriage as a way to make her future better, especially in areas with little economic opportunities. They also will gain considerable property for her bride price, such as cattle or other goods. 

Consequences? Girls who marry earlier in life are less likely to be informed about reproductive issues, and therefore pregnancy related deaths are known to be the leading cause of mortality among married girls between 15 and 19 years of age. These girls are twice more likely to die in childbirth than girls between 20-24. Girls younger than 15 are five times more likely to die in childbirth. Infants born to mothers under the age of 18 are 60% more likely to die in their first year than to mothers over the age of 19.

Young girls in a child marriage are more likely to experience domestic violence in their marriages as opposed to older women. The International Centre for Research on Women conducted a study that demonstrated that girls married before 18 are twice as likely to be beaten, slapped, or threatened by their husbands and three times more likely to experience sexual violence. Young brides often show symptoms of sexual abuse and post-traumatic stress.

Child Marriage perpetuates a further cycle of gender inequality and sickness. Young girls who lack status, power, and maturity are often subjected to domestic violence, sexual abuse, and social isolation. Early marriage almost always deprives girls of their education and ability to learn job skills, therefore perpetuating poverty and leaving them vulnerable if their husband dies or leaves them.

And there are stories of the abuse that child brides suffer. A 13 year old Yemeni girl, Ilham Mahdi al Assi, died in April 2010 from internal injuries four days after a family-arranged marriage to a man almost twice her age. In September 2009, a 12 year old Yemeni child-bride died after struggling for three days in labor to give birth.

Child Marriage in Asia

Child marriage is particularly prevalent in India, where more than one third of all child brides live. According to a report published by UNICEF, 47% of girls are married by 18, and 18% are married by 15. Indian Law has made child marriage illegal, however it is still widely practiced.

In Bangladesh  in 2005 45% of women then between 25 and 29 were married by the age of 15; According to the "State of the World's Children-2009" report, 63% of all women aged 20-24 were married before the age of 18

In Yemen, roughly half of the girls are married before 18, some by the age of eight, even though Yemeni law set the minimum age for marriage at 15. However, tribal customs often ignore the law, and in 1999 the minimum marriage age of fifteen was abolished, and the onset of puberty was set as a requirement for consummation of marriage. However, conservatives have interpreted that age to be 9 in some cases.

In Saudi Arabia, Saudi cleric have justified the marriage of girls as young as 9, with sanctions from the judiciary

HOWEVER, the girls are fighting back

Nada al-Ahdal is an 11 year old girl from Yemen, who posted a a powerful appeal against child marriage on YouTube. Nada ran away from home in order to avoid being married to a much older man.

Humaiya, a 16 year old form Bangladesh, was saved from being a child-bride by her mother, who refused to let her father marry her as a child bride. Her mother and a group of advocates intervened to prevent the marriage. Humayiya became an advocate against child brides and for child rights issues through World Vision.

Sally as-Sabahi, who was married at age 10 to a 25 year old cousin, managed to win a divorce from her cousin. Her story made headlines in local media and polarized the country.

Sally as-Sabahi and her Family

What is being done about this?

The UN and NGO's have initiated efforts to combat child marriages. Steps taken are

• framing laws against child marriages
• increasing access to girls' education
• changing harmful cultural norms
• supporting community programs
• maximizing foreign assistance
• providing young women with economic opportunities
• addressing the unique needs of child brides
• evaluating programs to determine what works

Further, there does exist legislation to combat child marriage. However, why does child marriage still happen? Part of it is the majority of these laws are International Convention; meaning there is very little way to concretely enforce these provision unless brought before the ICJ. Second is domestic legislators are fighting against thousands of years of cultural tradition, therefore making laws harder to enforce. And since often parents are the ones marrying off their daughters, it is hard for officials to identify cases of child bride and prevent them. Existing legislation:

• India's Child Marriage Restraint Act
• India's National Plan of Action for Children 2005
• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
• the Convention on the Rights of the Child
• The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
• The Convention on the Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriage
• International Convention on Civil and political Rights
• International Convention on Economic and Cultural Rights
• The Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices
• The WHO Constitution

The Worst Form of Child Labor: Child Soldiers

Child Soldier in Burma

The Myanmar Armed Forces discharged 42 children from its ranks on July 7th, due to pressure from the United Nations. The UN hailed this action as a positive step for the country towards its integration into the International Community and compliance with human rights standards. However, this is a small step compared to Myanmar's history of use of child soldiers. Myanmar is the only country in the region in which the government run armed forces forcibly recruit child soldiers into the army; children between the ages of 12-16 year old. Johnny and Luther Htoo, twin brother who jointly led the God's Army Guerrilla group, were estimated to have been ten years old when they began leading the group in 1997. According to Human Right's Watch,  as many as 70,000 boys serve in the national military, the Tatmandaw, which children as young as 11. Further, there are 5,000-7,000 children serving in ethnic opposition militias.

Girl Soldier in Burma

What is Child Soldering?

Child Soldiering is a manifestation of human trafficking when it involves the unlawful recruitment or use of children through force, fraud or coercion, as combatants or for labor or sexual exploitation by armed forces. The perpetrators of human trafficking are government forces, paramilitary organizations, and rebel groups. 

Children are abducted from their homes and villages to be used as combatants, porters, cooks, guards, servants, messengers, and spies. Girls are often forced to marry or have sex with male combatants. Orphans, refugees, and other displaced children are particularly at risk. They are brutally indoctrinated in order to ensure complete loyalty, threatened with death or dismemberment if they do't fight, and forced to kill friends who try to escape.

Over 300,000 children are serving as a child soldiers. According to the Asian Wall Street Journal, a third of those children are in Asia. The reason that children are used as soldiers is because their age lends them to be 

Child Soldiers in Filipino Rebel Force

extremely obedient. They can be forced to become dependent on the military, they are young enough to be brainwashed, they are cheaper to feed than regular soldiers, and are often more fearless than their older 

counterparts, and therefore willing to risk more in battle. Further, opposing armies are less likely to harm children.

In the Philippines, children are recruited by rebel forces for service in the army, most notably for the new People's Army, the Abu Sayyaf Group, and the Moro National Liberation Front. An estimated 13% of the 10,000 soldiers in the Moro National Liberation Front are children.

In Sri Lanka, thousands of children are thought to be  in the ranks of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elem 

(LTTE), a rebel group categorized as a terrorist organization by most of the world's government. Sri Lankan 

soldiers nicknamed one of LTTE's units the Baby Battalion, due to the amount of child soldiers serving in its 

ranks. Thanks to international pressure, however, the LTTE promised to discharge all soldiers under 18 by 2007. However, Karuka Group, a splinter group, now has begun recruiting child soldiers. 

Children in the LTTE in Sri Lanka

Ramifications

There are significant ramifications for child soldiers. Often, when arrested, children are charged as adults and treated as war criminals, despite the age that they had been when they committed many of the war atrocities. Beyond legal ramifications, there are significant emotional and physical consequences of child soldiering. Child soldiers are often wounded, disfigured, or killed. They suffer significant emotional trauma, and are often unable to adapt to the ordinary world. Further, many times they had missed out on education and opportunities to develop social and communication skills. They have often been exposed to HIV/AIDS, and in the case of the girls, pregnancy, and early motherhood.

Legal Instruments in Place

The International community has passed a significant amount of legislation to combat child soldiering. Some legislation are:

Optional Protocol to the Covenant on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict: Prohibits the forced recruitment of children under the age of 18 into governmental armed forces. Also requires Parties to criminalize the recruitment of children by non-state armed groups, such as rebel or separatist militias

ILO Convention 182: Defines he forced recruitment of children for use in armed conflict as 'one of the worst forms of child labor'

Kimberly Process: An international effort to prevent conflict diamonds from entering the market; children are often used to protect and mine these diamonds.

Paris Commitment and Prevention on Children Associated with Armed Forces or Armed Groups: A pledge from the international community to stop the forced recruitment of children into armed forces and to support their rehabilitation and reintegration into society.

Jasmine

Intern

The Economics of Trafficking: The Kachin and Burma

Human Trafficking is a lucrative business. The United States estimates that per year, 600,000-800,000 persons are trafficked across international borders. It is though that 2.5 million people are being trafficked around the world at any given time. This generates an estimated annual global profit of $32 billion dollars. It is the third largest illegal industry in the world after drugs and armed sales. In this post, we examine the economic and social factors motivating the human trafficking of one particular population: the Kachin.

The Kachin

Kachin women in traditional garb

The Kachin is a population that has been a target of human trafficking, due to the nature of their situation. The Kachin people are a group of ethnic peoples who inhabit the Kachin Hills, from which the population derives its name, in northern Burma and neighboring areas of China and India. This population has been greatly effected by the conflict between the Burmese government and the Kachin Independence Army. The Burmese government has attempted to expel this population group, therefore rendering them extremely vulnerable. actors that have proved dangerous to the Kachin. Since June 2011, when the Burmese military ended a 17 year ceasefire and launched an offensive against the Kachin Independence Army, there have been 24 documented instances of trafficked individuals; however, those are only the documented cases. The Kachin Women's Association-Thailand (KWAT) published a report stating that Kachin women and children are particularly vulnerable to trafficking, and it is an extremely lucrative business for the traffickers.

Fast Facts

• Between 2004-2007, there were 133 verified trafficking cases, involving 163 women and girls
• A quarter of those trafficked were under 18, with girls as young as 14 forced to be brides
• The continuing high incidence of trafficking indicates that the regime's new anti-trafficking legislation is failing to have any impact
• The Kachin population are vulnerable due to
• forced migration
• lack of recognition from government
• lack of governmental power

Why Are the Kachin So Vulnerable?

Part of the problem is the way they are treated in Burma. As the government has attempted to expel them from the country, they have no official governmental recognition, therefore rendering them extremely vulnerable as there are no programs in place to protect them, nor records of individuals when they go missing. Further, due to the conflict, approximately 100,000 people have been uprooted in the last two years and are now living in displacement camps. The Burmese government has also barred international aid organizations from accessing refugee camps housing the Kachin, and China has refused to provide assistance to Kachins who are seeking refuge across the border. In August 2012, the Chinese government even forced thousands of Kachins who were seeking shelter in the country back into Burma. "Push tens of thousands of people to China's doorstep, deprive them of food and status, and you've created a perfect storm for human trafficking," said KWAT spokesperson Julia Marip.

Kachin Women's Association-Thailand

Who is Trafficked?

Women and children are profitable income sources for traffickers. Women are either sold as brides or into brothels or massage parlors. China's one-child policy has created a particular market for trafficked Kachin women. Currently in China there are 117 men for every 100 women, and by 2020 there will be 30 million men looking for brides among 24 million women. Kachin women are considered favorable brides due to the lightness of their skin and proximity to the border. Kachin women are also thought of as fertile and excellent child bearers. They are sold for around $6,5000. Traffickers either kidnap women who are either migrating to the city from their villages, or will go into villages and refugee camps and offer families a dowry, playing on traditional customs. Chinese businessmen form a significant portion of the clientele. Lower income Chinese men pay brokers to fetch women from Myanmar families. Other women are trafficked into Thailand's sex industry; trafficked sex workers are often raped, and are sold from $300 upwards to the prostitution industry

Kachin Refugee Camp in Burma

Children are also viewed as highly sought after commodities by traffickers as well. Children trafficked to Thailand are occasionally rented out from parents. Brokers offer around $100-224 a month for children; children can earn from $15-100 a day working as beggars or shop assistants. Owners often beat children who are working as beggars so they appeal more to alms givers. Children also make excellent assistants as they can be paid less, are less likely to attempt to escape, and are more subservient in general; the favored age by traffickers are 3 month old toddlers to children under ten years of age. Young children are also sold to fuel Thailand's growing adoption rackets; others are sold into the child prostitution industry. Traffickers use the Internet to dodge international forces against child proposition. Recently, NGOs' efforts and stricter Thai laws have created a crack down on child trafficking, therefore increasing the demand for child trafficking as the supply dwindles.

Jasmine Prokscha

Intern

Colorado Man Convicted of Trafficking Filipino Nurses

One of the common misconceptions about labor trafficking is that it only pertains to agriculture, restaurant work, or other low paying jobs. But anyone at any level can be labor trafficked; in fact, according to the US Trafficking in Persons report, skilled laborers such as engineers and nurses are at high risk of being trafficked as well.

One such example is the case in Colorado. Kizzy Kalu of Highland Ranch,Colorado was convicted of human trafficking on Monday. Of the 94 counts that Kalu was charged with, he was convicted of all but 6 of them.

Kalu posted an advertisement online and sent letters to Filipino nurses inviting them to obtain nursing degrees in the US at Adams University. Although he told them that they would be nursing instructors and receiving 72,000 a year, they were to apply for student visas. The reason he gave the nurses for this duplicity was although there are limits on how many visas the US hands out, there is no set limit on higher education student visas. The nurses paid around 6,500 to obtain a visa.

However, there was no such university as Adams University; the picture on the website was of a building of another Colorado University, and there was no such institution at the location that Kalu posted on the website. Furthermore, when the nurses arrived, Kalu had them work for nursing home and other extended care facilities, at significantly lower rates than he had promised. At first, Kalu was paid directly from the nursing homes and only gave a small portion to the nurses. However, when the government started asking questions about his income, Kalu had the nursing homes pay the nurses directly, from which Kalu would take a significant portion of their wages. The nurses were required to pay at least 1,200 a month to Kalu, or else he threatened to report them to the Department of Homeland Security for visa fraud. One nurse refused to pay Kalu, and was subsequently deported.

Jay Moskowitz, who owned one of the nursing home company who hired several of the women, was one of the companies that brought the case to the authorities' attention after the nurses told them that they were not receiving all of their wages from Kalu.

This case highlights the vast reaches of labor trafficking. Many misconceptions of labor trafficking are that 'It doesn't happen here' and 'it's only on farms and in factories'. But labor trafficking can come in many different forms.

Facts about Labor Trafficking

• According to the US Trafficking in Person's Report
• In 2012 there were 1,153 labor trafficking prosecutions and 518 convictions around the world
• In North and South America there were 369 prosecutions and 107 convictions in 2012
• Traffickers control their victims in many different ways
• Recruitment Debt- traffickers charge their victims large fees for travel and visa expenses, and the victims are forced to work long hours with little pay to pay off their debts
• Hold on to important documents such as visas or passports
• Threaten to go to the authorities to have victims arrested and deported
• There are many 'legal' recruitment agencies that participate in labor trafficking; as brokers are paid according to the amount of employees they recruit, they are often unethical or don't follow up after persons are placed

Jasmine Prokscha

Intern

Natural Disasters Render Children Especially Vulnerable to Human Trafficking

Today, the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights wrote to Uttarankhana, India Chief Minister Vijay Bahung to ensure that calamity hit children in don't fall prey to trafficking. Uttarankhana is currently experiencing horrific flooding that started over ten days ago. The flooding has killed at least 822 people and forced tens of thousands to relocate. National disasters have always been a favorite hunting ground for child trafficking as children are confused, lost, often either separated from their parents or have been orphaned. The children don't know where to go, and children without supervision are more likely to fall into a trafficker's hands. There is also considerable confusion, whether it is children attempting to reach a refugee camp, or in the camps themselves. Traffickers take advantage of this confusion, as it is easier for children to slip through the cracks and therefore be exploited.

There are many examples of children being trafficked after natural disasters.

• Authorities noted a marked increase in instances of human trafficking in countries such as India, Thailand, and Indonesia following the 2004 Tsunami
• US customs officials arrested 20 registered pedophiles who booked flights to affected countries soon after the Tsunami
• After the 2007 Bihar floods in India, Save the Children Foundation estimated 3,000 children were trafficked from the state

How Does this Happen?

There are many ways that traffickers are able to gain access to children. Often, traffickers enter refugee camps under the guise of aid workers and collect children that way. Another issue is that governments often prioritize rescuing survivors rather than disseminating information about and combating human trafficking. Child Right activist Rajmangal Prasad of Pratidhi stated that although they agreed that rescuing survivors should be of the utmost priority, security forces should be alert to the possibility of child trafficking. By the time the rescue effort is completed, it is often too late to prevent children from being trafficked. In regards to the recent flooding, Kushal Singh, chief of the National Commission for Protection of Child's Rights, expressed concern that the Uttarakhed government was more concerned with rescuing survivors.

What Can People Do?

Activist say that government nee to make sure that there is significant protection for children in place after disasters. There should be no unauthorized persons allowed in the camps, officials and law enforcement should be on the lookout at bus and train stations for suspicious individuals travelling with children, and there should be a concerted effort to put up flyers and posters warning about the dangers of human trafficking.

On a global level, Anthony Sappter, Disaster Risk Reduction Specialist UNICEF, called for more buy in to the UN's Charter and Action Plan for Disaster Risk Reduction, launched last May at the 3rd Global Plan for Disaster Risk Reduction in Geneva.

There are several countries that have policies in place to prevent trafficking after natural disasters. After the 2004 Tsunamis, Australia passed legislation to prevent any register sex offenders from entering the country. Japan has one of the best disaster-preparedness infrastructure in the world, therefore minimizing the window that traffickers had. Google created Google Person Finder, which enables people to look up relatives in effected area, which might aid in keeping track of children and preventing them from being lost and trafficked.

Other Ideas

1. Counter-trafficking interventions must start in the emergency phase of disaster relief
2. Significant support from the Government and other institutions to ensure sustainability of action
3. Engagement and education of local populations
4. Attention needs to be paid particularly on the most vulnerable populations
5. Governments should assess existing vulnerabilities and attempt to rectify them before the next disaster

It all comes down to how prepared a country is before the disaster in order to prevent bad things from happening after the disaster. However, in the case of India, the disaster is happening now. Hopefully, with the attention that NGOs and local organizations are drawing to the dangers of orphaned and lost children, they will be able to take steps to prevent the children from being trafficked.

Jasmine Prokscha

Intern