Child marriage soars in Yemen as famine looms – UN

(Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Child marriage has soared in Yemen as families struggle to feed their children amid a conflict that has left the country on the brink of famine, the U.N. children’s agency said on Monday. More than two thirds of girls in Yemen are married off before they reach 18, compared to half of girls before the conflict escalated, UNICEF said in a report to mark the second anniversary of the war. It said parents struggling with deepening poverty were increasingly marrying off their daughters to reduce costs and the number of mouths to feed or because they believed a husband’s family could offer better protection. Around 80 percent of families in Yemen are in debt or are borrowing money to feed their children, the agency said.

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