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Feature: Child marriages still prevalent among Bangladesh's tribal populations

Xinhua, April 1, 2016 Adjust font size:

"Once upon a time I was a student, but now I can't study," said Nipu Bawm, a victim of early marriage, who lives in a rural village in Bangladesh's Bandarban hill district, some 316 km southeast of Dhaka.

"I was married at an early age, but later my husband left me. I'm now leading a solitary life," said Nipu, now in her mid-twenties, adding that she weaves Chador, the traditional garment of Muslim and Hindu women, to earn a living.

"I'm leading a cursed life due to my early marriage and I would beg parents not to allow their sons or daughters to marry at an early age. My life was utterly ruined because of my early marriage," she told Xinhua recently.

There are many women like Nipu who belong to the Bawn ethnic minority group, which is one of the largest among the 11 tribal groups in Bangladesh's southeastern Chittagong Hill tracts, combining three hilly districts of Bandarban, Rangamati and Khagrachari.

According to UNICEF Bangladesh, the eradication of child marriage is slowly occurring, but the rates are still high, with 66 percent of girls still marrying under the age of 18 and more than one third of girls marrying before the age of 15.

Legally, however, the minimum age of marriage is 21 for boys and 18 for girls.

Preliminary findings of recent research on the Context of Child Marriage and its implications in Bangladesh, which were presented to the public at a program in Dhaka on March 28, showed that Bangladesh has some of the highest rates of child marriage in the world.

The study showed that 67 percent of girls aged between 13 and 49 years old in Bangladesh are married before the legal age of 18.

The Department of Population Sciences of Dhaka University and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), with funding from the Department for International Development (DFID), under the Global Programme on Accelerating Action to End Child Marriage in Bangladesh, conducted the research.

The preliminary findings from the survey conducted in 14 districts, provide evidence for the importance of education in preventing child marriage, which is linked to domestic child abuse, dowries that can lead to violence, and health complications arising from the pregnancies of minors.

The research also revealed that girls who are married and fall pregnant before being physically, emotionally and financially mature enough, have a far higher need for non-existent family planning methods, leading to increased rates of pregnancy terminations and higher risks of maternal miscarriages.

However, the situation is no different in the Chittagong Hill tracts where the majority of tribal people live. It is the home of eleven tribes - often regarded as the most beautiful indigenous people of Bangladesh.

"The prevalence of child marriage in the Chittagong Hill tracts is significantly higher than in non-tribal regions," said Minarul Huq, a local activist.

He said adolescent and child marriage is a common phenomenon in the ethnic minority populations of that specific area.

"Ethnic groups such as the Chakma, Marma, Tanchangya and others, often marry off their children before they reach the minimum legal age for marriage," Huq said, adding that child marriage severely impacts the lives of the girls and brings an abrupt end to their childhood and innocence.

Early marriage also causes many problems, both psychologic and physical. "I think measures need to be stepped up in developed Bangladesh to stop early marriage in this region."

Buddhajyoti Chakma, a local journalist, said child marriage is a curse of society and brings shame on the state.

"There are 11 ethnic groups living in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, with the Chakmas holding a prestigious position among the groups, but the prevalence of child marriage among Chakmas, who are more advanced in education and culture than others, remains higher than others," Chakma explained.

"Tribal people usually don't register a marriage, so it's sometimes tough to determine which marriages are underage and which are not," he said.

He suggested that marriages performed in the Chittagong Hill Tracts should be strictly registered to prevent and ultimately end child marriages in the region. Endit