OTTAWA — The global food crisis, made worse by the war in Ukraine, is leading to a surge in the number of underage girls forced into marriage, Canadian aid agencies warn.
Plan International Canada said it has seen a worrying rise in the number of teenagers in the developing world who are forced into marriage because their families cannot afford to feed them.
Twelve million girls under the age of 18 marry each year, forcing them to drop out of school and risking their health through early pregnancy, the agency said.
He warned that a 15 percent decline in child marriages over the past decade is now being reversed due to pressure on families.
The problem is acute in countries facing food shortages where girls are forced to drop out of school to marry, including South Sudan, Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad and Afghanistan.
Bangladesh has one of the highest levels of underage girl marriage in the world, according to Plan. The country’s crops have been affected by severe flooding this year and it relies on Ukraine for much of its wheat.
Tanjina Mirza, director of programs at Plan International Canada, said fewer girls are now being forced into marriage with investments in education in Bangladesh, but this trend is under threat due to poverty, food shortages and the impact of climate change.
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She said Plan employees on the ground are reporting that more girls are being pulled out of school to marry in areas with acute food shortages.
School meal programs, including those that give students take-home rations to encourage them to stay in school, are closing due to shortages, Mirza said in an interview.
She said Plan is increasing food provision, including through school meal programs, to try to keep children in school.
Plan International Canada said it has seen a worrying rise in the number of teenagers in the developing world who are forced into marriage because their families cannot afford to feed them.
Mirza said that hunger affects 345 million people, with Ethiopia, South Sudan, Haiti, Burkina Faso and Niger among the most food insecure countries.
He said 50 million people could face famine in 45 countries this year, and the needs of girls, particularly adolescent girls, are often ignored when hunger grips a society.
“We are in the grip of a devastating hunger situation that currently affects millions of children around the world,” he said. “Food insecurity exposes girls to dangers such as abuse, child labor and child marriage, alleviating the economic burden on families: having one less mouth to feed and one less child to send to school is, in many cases, a matter of survival”.
She said “parents facing dire circumstances” are arranging marriages for their teenage daughters, but this is perpetuating “the cycle of poverty and hunger”.
According to Plan, almost one in five girls is married before the age of 18 worldwide.
Complications during pregnancy and childbirth are the leading cause of death for girls ages 15-19.
World Vision said that in Afghanistan, where more than 22 million people go hungry, girls are taken out of school and married off, even into violent homes, because their families cannot afford to feed them.
“Afghanistan is now facing the worst hunger crisis in living memory. The most recent statistics show that… 55 percent of the population is facing acute levels of food insecurity and malnutrition, with children starving,” said World Vision Afghanistan Country Director Asuntha Charles. “I am already seeing the terrible effect on children. and particularly girls.
Reyhana Patel, director of communications and government relations for Islamic Relief Canada, said her employees working in Afghanistan “are telling us about the horrible humanitarian crisis unfolding” there.
“We have come across mothers who have had to marry off their daughters so they can have food,” he said.
Haley Hodgson, a spokeswoman for International Development Minister Harjit Sajjan, said she is working “with international partners to hold the Taliban accountable for their horrific treatment and discrimination of women and girls.”
The war in Ukraine has deprived the UN World Food Program, which is among the aid agencies providing food in Afghanistan, of an important source of wheat.
It has also pushed up the price of grain and fuel, making it more expensive for aid agencies to feed the world’s poor.
Canada, one of the biggest contributors to the World Food Program, is among the countries that condemned Moscow for blockading Ukraine’s ports, bombing grain storage silos and stealing Ukrainian wheat.
Ukraine has also accused Russia of exporting stolen Ukrainian wheat, claiming it is Russian, and planting mines in Ukrainian fields so that farmers cannot plant or harvest their crops.
In a bid to ease the global food crisis, Russia and Ukraine last month signed deals with Turkey and the United Nations to help Ukraine export grain through the Black Sea.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on August 10, 2022.