ISSN : 1997-1052 (Print)
2227-202X (Online)
 
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Child Marriage in Bangladesh: A Question to Girlhoods
Sangita Das
Abstract

Bangladesh is the fourth highest country in the world for female child marriage. According to report (State of the World’s Children) of UNICEF, Niger is in the first position with the rate of 76% on average and Bangladesh with65% of girls married before age 18 (UNICEF Report, 2015).As per Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929 the minimum legal age for marriage is 18 years for females in Bangladesh. Along with this Act child marriage is punishable by law. (Ferdousi Nahid, 2013) The right to free and full consent to a marriage is recognized in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and in many subsequent human rights instruments -consent that cannot be “free and full” when at least one partner is very immature. (Stark Barbara, 2005) Bangladesh also acceded to the UN Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriages on 5 October, 1998. These laws, however, have little impact on the frequency of child marriage in Bangladesh. In past three decades where Bangladesh progress in equal education and earning opportunity of women over the same period the incidents of child marriage has increased which is a fundamental violation of Human Rights and needs to be considered as a serious issue that hinders the development of Bangladesh.

This paper is focused on an impact of early marriage of a girl perpetuates an unequal society restrict personal and psychological development and a hazardous health effects. Regarding these it attempts to cite some recommendations to reduce and eliminate eventually this major drawback. This is a qualitative research methodology collected from secondary sources i.e, Published Articles, Journals and Internet.

The findings suggest that the Bangladesh government will find it impossible to satisfy both their rural constituency and human rights activists simply by reforming child marriage law. The driving factors rooted in traditional patriarchal perception which needs to bechange by addressing non-assessable affects and impacts for the life of the girls.

Keywords: Child Marriage, Human Rights, Women.

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