COVID-19 pandemic: an unprecedented crisis
According to Save the Children's "Global Girl Report 2020", in the past 25 years, approximately 78.6 million child marriages have been blocked globally, and an average of 6 child marriages have been terminated every minute. In 2019, the number of girls in child marriages worldwide has dropped to 21%.
Source: UNICEF: Child Marriage Data Brief (2018).
But the COVID-19 epidemic has brought an unprecedented crisis. Under various restrictive measures for the prevention and control of the epidemic, the social economy has stopped, family income has decreased, and contraceptive measures have become difficult to obtain. This may be followed by an increase in teenage pregnancies, and this is when the health system is underprepared.
Save the Children predicts that the epidemic will cause an additional 1 million underage girls to become pregnant in 2020, and an additional 2.5 million child marriages in the next five years. If it weren't for the epidemic, these "additional" girls could have received education, entered society, and had greater autonomy in their lives.
note: The estimated value is the upper limit of the range. These figures may be underestimated.
Source: Global Girlhood Report 2020.
It is 2020 that may mark the beginning of a sharp rise in child marriage, halting and reversing the downward trend of at least 30 years ago. We must maintain a clear understanding and serious vigilance against the fragility of the trend of child marriage. Policy makers, law makers, and practitioners of child marriage policies should conduct a more in-depth reflection on the elimination of child marriage, so as to use more effective means to prevent child marriage from occurring.
The impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on global health, economy and human rights is disastrous. In the face of the tragedy of a sharp rise in child marriages and the fact that child marriages have been neglected, active and dynamic adoption of effective policies, laws, and social actions is the only way.