As the most severe drought in forty years drives families to the breaking point, UNICEF warns that girls as young as twelve are being coerced into child marriage and Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) at “alarming rates” in the Horn of Africa.
According to a UNICEF investigation, child marriage has increased significantly over the past year in the areas of Ethiopia that the drought has most severely hit. The number of children in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia who face the possibility of dropping out of school as a result of the crisis has tripled in only three months, placing a disproportionately large number of teenage girls in danger.
In order to meet the increased need for protection among vulnerable women and children around the Horn of Africa, UNICEF is striving to increase access to life-saving child protection and gender-based violence programmes. This entails implementing community-based initiatives to lower the likelihood of exploitation, abuse, and child marriage and offering assistance to assist women and children in healing from violence.
Comments are closed.