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Child marriage doubles amongst Syria refugees in Jordan    

April 18, 2018 at 1:36 pm

Drawings by young Syrian refugee girls in a community centre in southern Lebanon promote the prevention of child marriage [Wikipedia]

Child marriage among Syrian refugees has more than doubled in the last four years according to new data released by Jordan’s court system.

War, poverty and economic instability have been major factors in the increase in under age marriage throughout the Middle East.

In 2014, 15 per cent of all Syrian marriages included a child bride. Now, it is 36 per cent, according to new figures published by Jordan’s court system.

READ: Poverty push Syrian children in Lebanon to marry and work</p

Child marriage is a growing problem for Syrian girls in refugee communities in Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey. In some refugee communities 41 per cent of marriages are said to involve Syrian women under the age of 18.

For Syrian families, marrying their daughters is a desperate response to their living conditions which see parents struggling to provide for their children and fearing for their safety – particularly as a result of the increase of sexual violence against girls.