Mozambique: Child marriages in Cabo Delgado rose 10% in 2023 – NGO

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Mozambique: Child marriages in Cabo Delgado rose 10% in 2023 – NGO

2:46 CAT | 04 Jul 2024

FILE - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: Save the Children]

The escalation of the conflict in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique, has increased the number of child marriages by 10% in 2023, with girls being forced to marry members of terrorist groups, Save the Children denounced on Wednesday.

“Save the Children found a 10% increase in registered cases of child marriages in 2023, compared to the same period last year,” and fears “that the numbers are increasing even more as the conflict prevents children from receiving the protection and support they need,” the non-governmental organisation (NGO) lamented in a statement.

According to the NGO, “more and more children are expressing concern that this could happen to them, as the conflict approaches its eighth year with no end in sight”.

A wave of attacks in Cabo Delgado, in the northern region of Mozambique, since January this year has led to the closure of schools, thus preventing more than 22,700 children from studying, it said.

According to June figures from the United Nations, more than 189,000 people have been forced to leave their homes since the end of last year, the largest displacement since the beginning of the conflict, which has killed more than 4,000 people and caused more than 700,000 displaced people since 2017, the NGO lamented.

According to statements by local children, child marriages have increased, as have teenage pregnancies.

This increase is due, on the one hand, to the kidnapping of girls who are forced to marry members of terrorist groups and, on the other, to the demand for dowries by relatives, who are compensated monetarily for the kidnappings and use this money to feed their families, not least because “the conflict has reduced incomes”, the NGO explained, based on local testimonies.

“Some cultural practices and traditions are also fuelling the increase in early marriages,” said the children surveyed.

Young married girls are much less likely to stay in school and are at greater risk of physical and sexual violence, and are also at greater risk of suffering complications during pregnancy and childbirth, the NGO warned.

Save the Children called for a swift resolution to the conflict in Cabo Delgado and for more funds to be made available to provide care and assistance to girls and boys who face a growing risk of child marriages and other protection concerns.

Source: Lusa