A Childhood Corrupted: The reality of Child Marriage in Latin America and the Caribbean

 by Dulcie Langley

(image source: Girls Not Brides)

‘He left me when I was 4 months pregnant,’ explains 15 year old Arcely from Guatemala, who was forced to leave school at age 11 to marry her 34 year old husband. 

‘He said the child wasn’t his,’ she recounts, confirming that her husband had not yet visited his 17 month old son once.

Arcely’s story, however heart-wrenching, is by no means unique. According to a report by UNICEF, 1 in 4 girls in Latin America and the Caribbean marries or enters in early union before the age of eighteen.

Latin America and the Caribbean is the only region in the world where the number of child marriages has not decreased within the last 25 years, and also occupies second place in the world table for the number of teenage pregnancies.

Worldwide, an estimated 650 million women and girls alive today were married as children, with Latin America and the Caribbean accounting for approximately one in ten of these. Yet LAC is perhaps not the region that first springs to mind when we envision international hotspots for child marriage, overshadowed by the likes of sub-Saharan Africa. Currently, Niger in West Africa holds the highest rate of child marriage globally - a staggering 75%. India is also a significant country within this crisis, claiming roughly one third of the world’s known child brides. Without the intervention of targeted investment and aid, Latin America and the Caribbean is on course to reach the second highest prevalence of child marriage in the world by 2030, surpassing already sobering South Asian figures. 

The distress of hearing these statistics is exacerbated by the fact that they undoubtedly underestimate the real number affected. For alongside the formal marriages encompassed by this data, non-legally binding cohabitations between young girls and older partners are common in Latin America. These informal unions are sometimes not considered to be authentic ‘marriages’, despite possessing the same implications for the females entrapped, often concealing them from exposure by conventional studies.

Child marriage and early unions are a complex symptom of gender inequality, poverty, ambiguous laws and lack of opportunity. The data illustrates that the girls most likely to enter child marriage dwell in the poorest households, live in rural areas and are of indigenous descent. Girls subjected to this violation of human rights are denied autonomy in their present and future, with their access to education impeded, their health jeopardised and their risk of experiencing domestic abuse dramatically increased.

Of particular concern is the matter of early pregnancy associated with child marriage, which poses a threat to the lives of the mother and baby. These children born of children are often the product of a domineering partner committing sexual assault. Globally, girls who are married before age 15 are 50% more likely to face physical or sexual violence throughout their lives. ‘Their hips are not wide enough for the baby to be pushed out,’ warns Dr Jessica Gonzales, an Guatemalan paediatrician. ‘Since these girls have a lack of micronutrients, the babies can be born with anencephaly; such babies do not usually survive.’

Efforts thus far to tackle this social emergency have been rendered largely fruitless, owing to just how deeply entrenched these underpinning gender norms are and a chilling absence of government momentum. Although many Latin American countries have pledged to work towards the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal of ending child marriage by 2030, incomplete data and significant variations between regulations have facilitated little progress in addressing trends. Human Rights Watch states that Argentina, Chile and Venezuela have not provided any child marriage data to UNICEF, inhibiting the effective supervision required.

The child marriage crisis continues to be grossly underreported and mercilessly ignored. For so many girls crippled by insuperable financial woes, there remains a prevailing lack of alternative. As Brent Aaseb, UNICEF Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, declares, ‘We can no longer keep our eyes closed to their lost potential and forgotten rights.’

Silence must be broken at a national and international level for this heinous practice to cease. But now with a surging pandemic demanding attention, the plight of these girls is being met with more indifference than ever. Without active opposition or confrontation, this reproducing cycle of inequality will be perpetuated for generations to come. Thus, engaging with Latin America and the Caribbean on this global issue has never been more essential. We cannot wait. We cannot plateau. We cannot accept. These girls urgently deserve not only our protection, but our promise - our promise that a girl will never be defined by her capacity to serve a man.