Motherhood in Childhood

Child marriage does not always lead to immediate
sexual relations, however. In some cultures,
a girl may marry very young but not live with her
husband for some time. For example, in Nepal
and Ethiopia, delayed consummation of marriage
is common among young brides, especially in
rural areas.
While they are often viewed as adults in the
eyes of the law or by custom (when children
are married, they are often emancipated under
national laws and lose protections as children),
child brides need particular attention and support,
due to their exceptional vulnerability
(Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2003).
Compared to older women, child brides are
generally more vulnerable to domestic violence,
sexually transmitted infections and unintended
pregnancy due to power imbalances, including
those that may result from age differences
(Guttmacher Institute and International Planned
Parenthood Federation, 2013).
International human rights standards condemn
child marriage. The Universal Declaration
of Human Rights, the foundational human
rights instrument, declares that “marriage
shall be entered into only with the free and
full consent of the intending spouses.” The
Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural
Rights and the Committee on the Elimination
of Discrimination Against Women have repeatedly
condemned the practice of child marriage.
The Human Rights Committee has joined
other treaty bodies in recommending legal
reform to eliminate child marriage (Center
for Reproductive Rights, 2008), and the
Convention on the Rights of the Child and its
corresponding committee require States parties
to “take measures to abolish traditional practices
that are harmful to children’s health.”
WHEN CHILDREN GIVE BIRTH TO CHILDREN
Radhika Thapa was just 16 years old when she married a 21-year-old
man three years ago. Now, she is expecting a baby and is well into the
last months of her pregnancy. This is not the first time she has been with
child. Her first two pregnancies ended in miscarriages.
“The first time I conceived I was just 16, I didn’t know much about
having babies, nobody told me what to do,” Thapa says, while assisting
customers at the vegetable store she runs with her husband in the small
town of Champi, some 12 kilometres from Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu.
“The second time I wasn’t ready either, but my husband wanted a baby
so I gave in,” she admitted. After the second miscarriage, Thapa’s doctors
urged her to wait a few years before trying again, but she was under
immense pressure from her in-laws, who threatened to “find another
woman for her husband if she kept losing her babies.”
According to the 2011 Nepal Demographic and Health Survey, 17
per cent of married adolescent girls between ages 15 and 19 are either
pregnant or are mothers already. The survey also shows that 86 per cent
of married adolescents do not use any form of contraception, meaning
that few girls are able to space their births.
“You are talking about a child giving birth to another child,” says Giulia
Vallese, Nepal’s representative for the United Nations Population Fund
(UNFPA).
“When girls get pregnant their education stops, which means a lack of
employment opportunities and poverty,” says Bhogedra Raj Dotel of the
Government’s family planning and adolescent sexual reproductive health
division.
Menuka Bista, 35, is a local female community health volunteer in
Champi, assisting about 55 households in her area. Bista has been advising
Thapa, to ensure that the girl has a safe pregnancy. “Radhika…knows
she needs to go to the doctor and eat nutritious food for her baby to be
safe, but she doesn’t make decisions about her body: her husband and
in-laws do,” Bista said.
This observation is echoed in research carried out by various experts:
according to Dotel, husbands and in-laws make all the major decisions
about a woman’s reproductive health, from what hospital she visits to
where she will deliver her child. For this reason, Vallese believes it is
important to train husbands and family members on reproductive health
and rights.
—Malika Aryal, Inter Press Service
THE STATE OF WORLD POPULATION 2013
49