Severe drought raises cases of child marriage.
Because of the most severe drought in the Horn of Africa since 1981, exacerbated by extreme poverty and rising prices due to the Ukrainian war, girls as young as 12 are forcibly subjected to genital mutilation and forced marriages. .
The region is experiencing the most serious drought crisis in the last 40 years. 3,3 million students dropped out of school and 1,8 million minors need immediate help to survive
humanitarian crisis
Cases of female genital mutilation and child marriage are rising to “alarming levels” in several regions of Ethiopia, one of the countries most affected by drought in the Horn of Africa, the region in the far east of the continent.
The alert is from the United Nations Children's Fund, Unicef. The average number of girls marrying more than doubled in the space of a year. And the number of children at risk of school dropout in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia has tripled in the last 90 days because of the crisis.
Drought leads to hunger and extreme poverty
In February 2022, the United Nations (UN) expressed concern that there are 13 million people under threat of severe famine in the Horn of Africa region.
According to the World Food Program, maintained by the UN, the Horn of Africa is facing the worst drought in 40 years. Crops were completely ruined, heavily affecting the region's population, leading to widespread hunger and malnutrition.
Additionally, the international organization stated that economic problems led to a rise in inflation, increasing the cost of living, making it difficult to access food and also the basic resources necessary for survival.
"Clearly it is proving to be one of the greatest humanitarian crises facing humanity."
“We are talking about a total of 20 million people whose lives are threatened by severe food insecurity and also by lack of water”.
Unicef director Mohamed M. Fall said.
The Domino Effect and the Ukraine War
Across the Horn of Africa, families are being faced with desperation in the choices they make to survive the drought, exacerbated by climate change, which kills herds and livestock, cuts off water sources in a domino effect.
Another important factor in this crisis is the war in Ukraine, which further raised the price of food and fuel.
More than 1,8 million children are in need of care to survive because of acute malnutrition. In Somalia alone, at least 213 people are at risk. With desperation, many parents and guardians are “giving up” the girls in the family for marriage in order to secure the dowry and be able to support the rest of the family.
Men five times older
With the girls leaving, through marriage, there are fewer mouths to feed and the hope of parents is to find husbands for their teenage or pre-adolescent daughters, so that they marry members of wealthier families and thus go to a home with more resources that are able to feed and protect them.
UNICEF's Child Protection Advisor for East and Southern Africa, Andy Brooks, said levels of child marriage and genital mutilation hit girls as young as 12 and marriages are to men five times as old.
For UNICEF, child marriage and genital mutilation end childhood and expose girls to domestic violence and dropping out of school, creating the risk of a lifetime of poverty.
Across the region, at least 3,3 million students dropped out of school. For the UN agency, this is a crisis for children and one that needs immediate funding for an efficient response.
Conclusion
As if the serious situation of drought and poverty were not enough, now a war arises to which Africa is completely alien, but which ends up being the continent that suffers the most.
The war in Ukraine aggravates this crisis situation, which is already very bad, transforming what was already difficult into unsustainable. Ironically, the Western world, which cares so much about those displaced by the war, doesn't give a damn about its impact on Africa.
And the greatest irony of all is that the aggressor country, Russia, perhaps because they know they are guilty of what happened or just taking advantage of an opportunity left open, are the only ones that have presented solutions to the problem and have helped in what they can.
The reality is that everything that has happened due to the war in Ukraine has proven to be completely surreal and damage containment has to start now, before we go back even more years than we have already gone back since the beginning of the conflict.
What do you think of this situation? Is this drought making Africa regress? We want to know your opinion, do not hesitate to comment and, if you liked the article, share it and give it a “like”.
Picture: © DR
