Just a reminder | Stories of girls' pain.. child marriage allowed in 48 US states and banned in only one

After the world recognised the danger of marrying underage girls under the age of 18, denied that it existed in developed countries and called this act backwardness and injustice, it is strange that it still exists and is permitted in the United States.

The Senate of the US state of “Massachusetts” voted unanimously in favour of a bill banning child marriage, which had previously been allowed. The voting session on the bill was attended by rights advocates, volunteers from the United Nations Children's Fund, “UNICEF”, and supporters of an association concerned with children's rights, all of whom strongly applauded the decision when it was announced, crowning their efforts to end child marriage in this state.

The human rights organisation “Human Rights Watch” wrote on its website on Friday that 1,200 children were married in the state of Massachusetts between 2000 and 2016, and that most of these marriages joined underage girls with adult men.

It explained that these marriages expose underage girls to the risk of harm to their health and hinder their access to education, in addition to the problems of poverty and domestic violence.

The situation in 48 states
Local law in 48 US states allows “child marriage” under certain circumstances. The law in Massachusetts, for example, allowed the marriage of children under the age of 18 with parental consent and judicial approval, and where these circumstances were met there was legally no minimum age of marriage.

The new law in the US state bans marriage under the age of 18 and accepts no exceptions whatsoever.

“Human Rights Watch” said that the unanimity shown by the lawmakers in the Massachusetts legislature sends a strong message to the survivors of child marriage who dared to speak out about the stories of the pain they suffered.

It added that their stories showed how marriage at an early age robs them of their childhood and their rights.