Child marriage in the context of COVID-19

This new UNICEF/UNFPA publication covers Djibouti, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Sudan and Yemen, provides key recommendations for strengthening child marriage prevention programming during COVID-19 response and recovery phases. Based on this publication, approximately 700,000 child brides each year in the MENA region and this number is likely to increase due to lockdown measures and children’s being prevented from access to essential prevention, protection and support services. Specifically, child marriage is likely to increase due to increased poverty and school closures. Child Identity Protection encourages States and other actors to fully implement the recommendations, in an effort to prevent the emergence of a “shadow pandemic”, where children’s identities in family relations, are unduly modified through child marriage.

Source : https://www.unicef.org/mena/reports/child-marriage-context-covid-19