07 November 2013

Meet ‘cultural norm’, he kills girls: The tragedy of child brides

This week a court in Birmingham heard the case of a 14-year-old girl who became pregnant after she was taken to Pakistan against her will and forced to marry a 24-year-old man.

A shocking case to learn the details of, such incidents are, regretfully, not a rarity. Each year across the globe two million girls aged 14 and younger become mothers. They do so mostly because they live in societies that regard them as little more than property.

The World Health Organization estimates that girls giving birth aged less than 15 are five times as likely to die. Pregnancy is the leading cause of death for girls between the ages of 15 and 19 in low and middle income countries. [The Independent] Read more