Essay Example on Forced marriages should be banned Internationally

Forced marriages should be banned internationally this is because within our progressive society people's lives should not be arranged for them by their relatives or family members Just imagine how much better the world would be if everyone got to decide when they wanted to get married A forced marriage is a system where one or both parties are pressured into a marriage without their consent Some families go as far as tormenting the victim with physical or verbal forms of abuse leaving them with no other choice than to succumb to the marriage Every year 15 million girls around the world become child brides losing the opportunity to gain a better education and economic empowerment Canadians expect that their laws protect children from such nightmares yet they have become aware of thousands of reported cases of forced marriage underage marriage and polygamy There are a lot of factors to why forced marriages happen things such as gender inequality tradition poverty insecurity It also happens because the family of the victim wants to preserve their wealth and reputation Some families think that it s an important part of religion they also want to marry their children off in exchange for money they don t approve of their child being gay lesbian bisexual or transgender Families also don t want their children to have relationships or sex so the children feel pressured by the community or other family members to follow traditions want to keep family values and honour Most cases involve females with some victims as young as 13 years old although experts suggest that up to 15 of these cases may involve men also marrying against their will 

The highest number of cases occur in some of the poorest countries many forced marriages mainly take place in South Asia and rural Sub Saharan Africa in this modern day and age many countries forced marriage is still practised For example Niger has the highest rate of 76 whilst Mozambique has the lowest rate of 48 Statistics tell us that 82 of the victims were female and 18 were male whilst 15 were all under 25 years old these cases involved 74 different countries with 43 of forced marriages taking place in Pakistan 11 in India and 10 in Bangladesh How would you feel if it was your child being married to a complete stranger at a very young age to someone whom you have little to no idea about them or their background history When children are forced into a marriage at a very young age it increases the risk of them contracting sexual diseases For example girls who are forced to marry at a young age and give birth before their bodies are fully developed are more at risk of dying or getting shocking afflictions and illnesses during delivery in 2007 UNICEF reported that a girl under the age of 15 is five times more likely to die during delivery and pregnancy than a woman who in her 20 s The risks can also extend to infants if the mother is under the age of 18 her baby's chance of dying in the first year of life is 60 greater than a baby born to a mother who is older and is capable to look after the child Young women can face tremendous health risks in during labour including a serious condition known as obstetric fistula this causes the young mother s vagina bladder and rectum bladder to tear during childbirth It causes urine and faeces to leak from the child and without any surgical treatment the condition can last for the rest of her life 

Fistula patients are more commonly poor women between the ages of 15 and 20 many of whom were child brides Many legal actions are taking place to stop forced marriages internationally For example in Mozambique children are being educated more about marriages and charities are also set up to help those affected Whilst in Pakistan they have toughened their penalties those who are guilty of the crime which is estimated to affect one in five girls in the country people who still practice forced marriages can now spend up to five years in prison and serve up to ten years There are many many impacts of forced marriages Many people are isolated from their right of freedom hospitals education and their safety One case study from VOA news interviewed Jasvinder Sanghera who was born in Britain but is originally from India she said that her sisters were taken out of school in England at the age of only 15 and they were married off to men they've never met she also said that when she was 14 her mother presented the photograph of the man she was to learn she was promised to when she was only eight she was the one who said that she was not going to marry him Sanghera ended up running away and she was disowned by her family She was seen as shameful and a dishonourable daughter Sanghera has now started teaching others about how powerful traditional beliefs in the practice of forced marriage is still happening in both first and third world countries