UNICEF data show Brazil ranks 4th in child marriages

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – According to a United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) survey, Brazil ranks fourth in the world in child marriages in absolute numbers. It is second only to India, Bangladesh, and Nigeria.

According to the United Nations (UN), child marriage is the formal or informal union in which at least one of the parties is under 18 years old.

The subject was discussed on Wednesday, February 23, at the External Commission on Domestic Violence Against Women. Representatives of Piauí State’s Public Ministry presented the data.

According to the data brought to the hearing, in the Brazilian case, child marriage, unlike some African and Asian countries, does not have cultural and ritualistic aspects but is consensual, i.e., it would be an adolescent’s choice, even if motivated by external factors, such as poverty.

In 2016, the number of marriages or unions in Brazil was 1.1 million. Of this total, 137,973 included people up to 19 years old, with 28,379 boys against 109,594 girls.

SCHOOL DROPOUTS

According to the prosecutor of Piauí, Flávia Gomes Cordeiro, among the main consequences of child marriage for girls are the increase in domestic service, parental care exercised predominantly by them, lack of professionalization, exclusion from the labor market, delay or even school dropout, and restriction of mobility and freedom.

According to her, the Covid-19 pandemic has aggravated the situation. “The closing of schools, the breakdowns of ties and many services as well, such as the services of the Unified Social Assistance System, which have somewhat ceased to be so present by the very condition of the pandemic, end up exposing these girls to a greater risk factor of child marriage, of abuse. Even financial pressure,” she said.

Among the courses of action proposed by the prosecutor is the change in Brazilian legislation, which today allows marriage at 16 years of age with parental consent (Civil Code). Flávia Gomes Cordeiro defends that only adults should be allowed to get married.

She also proposes strengthening public policies that guarantee access and permanence in school and intensifying school strategies for the active search of children and adolescents who experience situations of abuse and child marriage.

OLDER HUSBANDS

The strategic program manager of the NGO Plan International Brazil, Nicole Campos, cited the 2015 research “She goes in my boat”, conducted by Instituto Promundo in partnership with the Federal University of Pará and Plan International. The research addressed marriage in childhood and adolescence in Brazil.

Among the findings highlighted by Campos is that the topic is not a constitutive part of research and policy-making agendas. The work also points out that girls are often the sole caretakers of their children and the main ones responsible for domestic work, and their husbands are, on average, nine years older than them.

Among the factors that lead to marriage is the desire, often by a family member, to protect the reputation of a girl who has become pregnant; the desire to control the girls’ sexuality; the desire for security; and the husbands’ desire to marry younger girls who are considered more attractive and easier to control.

The consequences are pregnancy and maternal, newborn, and child health problems; educational delays and challenges; limitations to the girls’ mobility and social networks; and exposure to partner violence.

According to Nicole Campos, child marriage is present throughout Brazil. “It is present in rural and urban areas. Generally, we have a very stereotypical view of child marriage. Because it is not ritualized, because it is informal, it seems to be more present in rural areas, but it is also present in urban areas. And although poverty is a risk factor for child marriage, it is also present in the upper-middle class,” she said.

She made recommendations to change legislation, promote public awareness about the law and the consequences of marriage in childhood and adolescence, prioritize comprehensive sex education in school, and provide health services for youth.