Child Marriage In South Asia

The briefing paper primarily focuses on violations of women’s and girls’ reproductive rights and right to be free from sexual violence arising from child marriage in six South Asian countries—Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. These countries were selected largely due to the widely documented scope of the problem in each nation and the urgent need for accountability. The briefing paper includes Sri Lanka despite the fact that the country has been recognized as a model in South Asia for elimination of child marriage; reports have been emerging concerning high rates of child marriage in conflict-affected areas and where customary laws apply.10 The term “South Asia” does not have a uniform definition, which means that studies and reports presenting statistics or information on South Asia may include more or fewer countries than are within the scope of this report. However, where legal trends are analyzed or discussed pertaining to South Asia in this briefing paper, the term is intended to refer to the six countries noted above.