Children are not brides - Part 1: Child marriage is falling, but unsustainably

BHG - During the 2021-2023 period, child marriage in Ha Giang Province fell substantially from 7.58% in 2021 to 3.56% in 2023.

The authorities successfully persuaded 515 couples to postpone their marriages, while many intervention models at the grassroots level have shown positive results. However, challenges remain as many couples who postpone their marriages still live together as husband and wife.

The case of S. M. Ch, a 20-year-old girl from Pai Lung Commune, is a typical example of child marriage in Ha Giang. Ch married while in the eighth grade and had to drop out of school to have children and work, making her life much more difficult.

Pupils at Bang Lang Secondary School (Quang Binh District) learn about gender and the consequences of child marriage.

Girls who marry early often have to give up their dreams of education and employment opportunities due to various factors such as family pressure, outdated customs, and lack of life skills.

The consequences of child marriage are very clear, and the province has identified the fightagainst child marriage as an important task. Directives and resolutions have been issued to eliminate outdated customs, along with implementing the project to reduce child marriage for the 2015-2025 period with a budget of over 22 billion VND.

Authorities at all levels have organised tens of thousands of communication campaigns to raise public awareness, with active participation from youth union members and respected community leaders. During the 2022-2024 period, the province has organised more than 13,640 communication events, provided counselling for 1,490 child marriage cases, and established 42 models for preventing and combating child marriage.

The Women’s Union at various levels maintains more than 500 clubs for preventing child marriage, and has also secured commitments from nearly 50,000 families not to allow their children to marry early.

Educational institutions also actively raise awareness through extracurricular activities and incorporating child marriage into their curriculum. As a result, Bang Lang Secondary School has not recorded any cases of child marriage in the past three years.

In Dong Van District, where over 97% of the population belongs to ethnic minorities, child marriage was once a serious problem. However, since implementing the directives and resolutions on child marriage prevention, the district has been successful in persuading many couples to postpone marriage, contributing to a reduction in the child marriage rate.

Although the rate of child marriage has decreased, many challenges remain. Since 2021, the province has recorded nearly 1,000 child marriages out of 19,358 total marriages, accounting for over 5%, with the highest rate recorded among the Hmong ethnic community.

The situation of girls giving birth before age 18 continues, and school dropout rates remain high, with dropout rates of 1.37% at secondary school level and 3.4% at high school level.

If not addressed at its roots, the child marriage situation will continue to be difficult to control, posing many challenges to the sustainable development of the community.

Current measures need to be maintained and expanded to create a better living environment for the younger generation and help them have opportunities for education and development.

Part 2: Crossing the “stone fence”