Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of
conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 40
Paragraph
Paragraph text
Finally, the practice of “temporary” child or forced marriages is one of the dangerous coping mechanisms that girls face while in refugee camps in transit countries. Confronted with the economic burdens brought on by protracted displacement and limited or inexistent work opportunities, some refugee and migrant parents, and often children themselves, turn to those measures because they feel that they are the only option for safeguarding a child’s future or supporting a family’s immediate needs. For example, Syrian refugee girls are often forcibly married by their parents, who view such arrangements as a way of securing their daughters’ safety and ensuring the family’s livelihood through the dowry. Once married, those girls are likely to end up in a situation of sexual and domestic exploitation by a spouse whom they have followed abroad. The use of child and forced marriages to traffic girls into prostitution in another country is also common.
Legal status
Non-negotiated soft law
Body
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
Document type
Special Procedures' report
Means of adoption
N.A.
Topic(s)
Humanitarian
Movement
Violence
Person(s) affected
Children
Families
Girls
Persons on the move
Year
2017
Paragraph type
Other
Paragraph focus
Vulnerabilities of children to exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis