Africa leads scourge of child brides as girls married off to feed families
Kuala Lumpur — Child marriage is increasing in parts of war-torn South Sudan and drought-hit Kenya as parents swap their daughters for cows and goats to survive, campaigners said on Wednesday. Africa accounts for nine out of the 10 countries with the highest rates of underage unions globally, advocacy group Girls Not Brides said, with girls marrying due to tradition, family ties, the stigma of pregnancy out of wedlock and poverty. However, long-running wars and climate change are now leading factors too, activists said, highlighting a rise in marriage among girls under the age of 18 in South Sudan to 52% from 40% in 2010, according to UN data. "The conflicts just worsened the situation," Dorcas Acen, a gender protection expert at the charity CARE International in South Sudan, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "Majority of the parents wish to give up their girls and marry them off because of the economic hardship. They are looking at how to reduce the number of mouths they need to...
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