The impact of Covid-19 on child marriage and other gender-based violence
Marriage before the age of 18 is a fundamental violation of human rights. Yet Unicef reported in April that the number of girls married in childhood stands at 12 million per year worldwide. Photo: Save The Children
I recently visited rural areas of Bangladesh amid the Covid-19 pandemic and returned to Dhaka with a new understanding of the impact that Covid-19 is having on child marriage, a harmful practice that is a global challenge. The fundamental shift that I saw was that child marriage, which has typically been encouraged by struggling parents, is now being encouraged by struggling girls. This worrisome trend underscores a new burden of the pandemic on the poor.