COVID-19 and Child, Early and Forced Marriage: An Agenda for Action

"Governments and communities around the world are struggling to contain and respond to this challenge [COVID-19], which threatens to undo decades of progress, including towards ending child, early and forced marriage."

This brief on child marriage and COVID-19, developed by Girls Not Brides: The Global Partnership to End Child Marriage, provides insights, recommendations, and resources for responding to the needs of adolescent girls during the COVID-19 crisis and recovery period. It focuses on how adolescent girls, particularly those at risk of marriage or already-married girls, will be affected in the short- and longer-term. The brief is intended for development partners, including government and civil society organisations (CSOs).

As stated in the brief, "whilst it is too early to tell how COVID-19 is affecting the incidence of child marriage, experience from the Ebola crisis and other acute emergencies strongly suggests that girls and women will be disproportionately affected, particularly amongst the poorest and socially marginalised groups [...] Many of the complex factors that drive child marriage in stable environments are exacerbated in emergency settings, as family and community structures break down during crisis and displacement. A pandemic of this nature will also present unique challenges that can increase child marriage both in the acute and recovery phases. Challenges include the loss of household income, higher risk of violence in the household and lack of access to schooling."

The brief offers a list of recommendations for governments and civil society organisations around a number of themes:

Mitigating immediate and long-term impact - The brief stresses the need to prevent and respond to the vulnerabilities faced by girls and women, including risks from child, early, and forced marriage in humanitarian and crisis situations. It recommends, for example, that all those involved in the humanitarian response and recovery period ensure their activities do not lead to - or perpetuate - further discrimination, abuse, violence, neglect, or exploitation, including the practice of early and forced marriage. Humanitarian responses programming should also be comprehensive and cross-sectoral, and address both life-saving, immediate needs, and promote long-term resilience, including of adolescent girls.

Health and sexual and reproductive health - The brief explains how disruption in access to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services caused by COVID-19 will have severe consequences for adolescent girls and women. For example, lack of access to contraception is likely to increase the number of unwanted and unintended pregnancies for married and unmarried girls, which in turn could increase pressure on girls to marry early. In addition, early pregnancy presents a higher risk of complications and maternal and infant morbidity and mortality, and is endemic in child marriage. Recommendations include the fact that governments should recognise SRH services as essential in times of crisis and remove barriers to access. This can be done through, for example, allowing remote access to contraception services via telemedicine and by allowing pharmacies to provide services. In addition, pregnant women and girls with respiratory illnesses must be treated as a high priority due to their increased risk of adverse outcomes.

Education - With schools and universities closed, girls in development or humanitarian settings may be at increased risk of sexual exploitation, abuse, and child marriage. According to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), school closures during the 2014-16 Ebola outbreak in West Africa contributed to spikes in child labour, neglect, sexual abuse, and teenage pregnancies. In Sierra Leone, cases of teenage pregnancy more than doubled to 14,000 during the outbreak. There was also a "sharp increase" in teenage pregnancies and early marriages in some affected areas, due to girls' increased school dropout rates. In addition, there are the long-term impacts of school closures on girls' futures. Recommendations for governments include supporting continued learning by investing in inclusive gender-responsive distance education methods, such as radio broadcasts. In addition, governments should ensure that adolescent girls (and boys) continue to have access to comprehensive sexual education (CSE), SRH information, and referrals to services as part of distance learning while schools are closed.

Gender-based violence and protection of children - As stated in the brief, "There is already growing evidence that some of the measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 – including staying at home and physical distancing – whilst essential from a public health perspective, can place girls and women at greater risk of sexual abuse and gender-based violence (GBV). This can be from family members and intimate partners, and includes sexual, physical, psychological and emotional violence." Furthermore, lack of access to child protection services and information places children at greater risk of experiencing and remaining trapped in exploitative situations that can have long-term physical and emotional consequences. The brief recommends, for example, that where GBV and child protection structures are disrupted, governments and service providers must identify new referral pathways for girls and women at risk of violence. Also, where physical distancing policies are in place, one should consider adapting life skills and girl empowerment programmes through distance learning, using radio or online platforms.

Economic impacts - As explained in the brief, "evidence from humanitarian contexts shows that poor families who lose livelihoods are often more likely to marry their daughters to alleviate economic hardship. This is seen as a coping strategy to reduce the number of mouths to feed and, in contexts where bride price is paid, as a way of generating extra income. Other negative coping mechanisms include survival sex and child labour." Recommendations here focus on financial support to reduce the risk of adolescent girls being married off, as well as free health care services for vulnerable girls and women.

Impact on political and civil rights - As stated in the brief, "there is growing concern around how governments' responses to the COVID-19 crisis could also increase human rights abuses. This includes state violence, and the ability of CSOs to operate and ensure accountability from state actors." Recommendations include the need to ensure that public health physical distancing restrictions are not used as a tool to curb civil society's ability to provide community support, nor to limit the accountability of government to its people. Governments and communities also need to ensure that there are protection mechanisms for women's rights defenders and CSOs during lockdowns to prevent human rights abuses.