Foreign Policy Blogs

Cracking down on child marriage in India

Cracking down on child marriage in IndiaLast week in the two part series, Looking Deeper into Child Marriage, looked at the often hidden and forgotten plague of child marriage and the some 25,000 child marriages that occur everyday.  According to UNICEF some 60 million children are forced to enter into marriages before they are of legal age, half of which are in South Asia.  Part 1 looked at the problem of child brides in India, noting that the majority of which take place in Rajasthan, where 15% of girls are under 10 years old when they married.  Since the posts were published police in the Indian state of Rajasthan have taken great measures to enforce previous threats to take action against those who are  involved in organizing child marriages, including priests and even that of catering firms and photographers. Reports indicated hundreds of child marriages took place in the state and the rare step of arresting 16 local caste leaders for issuing a decree calling for village community members to ostracize a man who refused to allow his 16-year-old daughter to be married, is a huge step in enforcing much needed action against child marriage, which is illegal in India (The Times of India).

While the arrests are only a small dent in the rampant abuse of child marriages and need for enforcement of rule of law in the state it is a great stride in seeing that a true ban is possible.

See part 2 for more in-depth  coverage and previous posts on Child Marriage for more information.

 

Author

Cassandra Clifford

Cassandra Clifford is the Founder and Executive Director of Bridge to Freedom Foundation, which works to enhance and improve the services and opportunities available to survivors of modern slavery. She holds an M.A., International Relations from Dublin City University in Ireland, as well as a B.A., Marketing and A.S., Fashion Merchandise/Marketing from Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island.

Cassandra has previously worked in both the corporate and charity sector for various industries and causes, including; Child Trafficking, Learning Disabilities, Publishing, Marketing, Public Relations and Fashion. Currently Cassandra is conducting independent research on the use of rape as a weapon of war, as well as America’s Pimp Culture and its Impact on Modern Slavery. In addition to her many purists Cassandra is also working to develop a series of children’s books.

Cassandra currently resides in the Washington, D.C. metro area, where she also writes for the Examiner, as the DC Human Rights Examiner, and serves as an active leadership member of DC Stop Modern Slavery.


Areas of Focus:
Children's Rights; Human Rights; Conflict