CHILD MARRIAGE IN NIGERIA:THE HEALTH HAZARDS AND SOCIO-LEGAL IMPLICATIONS


Book Description

This book informs that the practice of child marriage is harmful and inimical to the health, education, social wellbeing, socio-economic empowerment, and the fundamental rights of the child. It shows the conflicts between the practice and the public policy commitments and efforts of the government of Nigeria on the right to health, education, human/fundamental rights, the MDGs, the Nigeria Vision 20:2020, the goals of NEPAD and the transformation of Nigeria. It exposes the unsustainable arguments seeking to justify child marriage. This book calls on all individuals, legal persons, state and non-state actors and development partners including YOU to join and support the advocacy to end child marriage in Nigeria. For those who are yet to appreciate the girl-child as a person of great value like the male counterpart, this book is here to change such orientation.




An Echo of Silence


Book Description

An Echo of Silence A Comprehensive Research Study on Early Child Marriage (ECM) in Iran Kameel Ahmady Whilst working on the issue of female genital mutilation in Iran “In the Name of Tradition”, in this book, Kameel Ahmady, also brought a focus to the early marriage of children and high rates of this harmful phenomenon in Iran. He conducted a two-year study on child marriage in the seven provinces of Khorasan Razavi, East Azerbaijan, Khuzestan, Sistan and Baluchistan, West Azerbaijan, Hormozgan and Isfahan, drawing on official country statistics. The results of this research have been published in Farsi, Kurdish and English languages. According to the religious structure of Iran, maturity for girls begins with the first monthly menstruation, considered as the threshold of transition from childhood to adulthood which happens around age of 9. This physical and biological threshold means being able to marry, regardless of the actual age and ability to govern your marital life. Although early marriage applies to both young girls and boys, in fact the bitter reality of the society indicates that the consequences and effects of the phenomenon of child marriage on girls are far more serious and dangerous. Undoubtedly, social investment in girls, expanding their social and economic capital and ensuring their access to education and health services is a clear driver towards gender equality to provide for stronger communities; but child marriage does the contrary. A lack of independent and credible studies on child marriage in Iran, means there is little information and data, but according to the legal adviser of the Iranian Judiciary, the official and state statistics suggest that between 500 to 600 thousand children per year Iran are getting married – and these are only the statistics for marriages that officially registered, without including those outside the formal marriage process. Now, there are around 14,000 child widows in the country, and according to estimates from the United Nations 17 percent of all marriages in Iran are under the age of 18. Further, some men who have more than one spouse in Iran do not register their child marriages, and hide them. This comprehensive research first attempts to analyse the prevalence of child marriage in Iran with an emphasis on socio-cultural factors that reflect the profound and deep-rooted inequalities which have contributed to the persistence of child marriage in Iran. The scientific reason for doing this research is to explain the evidence and prevalence of this traumatic practice in Iran and to assist government decision makers in focusing on the immediate protection of these children’s human rights. This book, as an effort to expose and deepen understandings of the issue of child marriage in Iran, has attracted the attention of civil activists, government policymakers and some parliamentary representatives and MPs. It has provided the background to proposals for raising the minimum age for child marriage, amending Article 1041 of the Civil Code. This proposal was approved by the House of Representatives in an emergency and with a majority of votes, but unanimously rejected by the Majlis Legal and Judicial Commission. As the only fieldwork study these research findings were predicated on producing civil society advocacy and the need for parliament to amend the law. In the community level the research has raised a wave of public awareness leading to a serious civil society demand for a ban on child marriage and raising the age of marriage from 13 to 16 for girls and from 15 to 18 for boys. #early_child_marriage #child_marriage_in_Islam #age_of_marriage_in_Iran #cohabitation_in_Iran #white_marriage #white_marriage_in_Iran #female_gentle_mutilation_or_cutting #female_gentle_ mutilation_in_iran #female_gentle_cutting_in_iran #FGM_in_Iran #Human_rights_in_Iran #feminization_and_poverty_in_Iran #divorce_rates_in_Iran #divorce_laws_in_Iran #marriage_laws_in_ Iran #virginity_in_Iran




The Indian Yearbook of Comparative Law 2020


Book Description

This yearbook is a compilation of thematically arranged essays that critically analyse emerging developments, issues, and perspectives in the field of comparative law. It comprises three parts wherein the first part focuses on public law and its related issues, the second part engages with issues in the field of private law, and the third part discusses general themes in comparative law. The yearbook includes papers on comparative study between universalism and Asian exceptionalism under human rights perspective, reclaiming the German concept of the rule of law “Rechtsstaat”, the Guarantee Clause in global constitutionalism, administrative justice, constitution and culture, and the category of the ’stranger’ in modern legal and political thought. The Yearbook touches upon various issues, e.g., forest protection and the idea of Justice, the application of defamation law on politicians, the intersection of customary law relating to child marriage in different countries, hybrid statehood and Buddhist nationalism. Further, scholarly work on the themes of comparative law, customary law, environmental law, and constitutional law is also highlighted.The yearbook intends to seamlessly tie together discussions on both public and private law aspects of comparative law. It encourages readers to gain a nuanced understanding of the working of the law, legal systems and legal cultures while aiding deliberations on the constituents of an ideal system of law.




Through the Gender Lens


Book Description

Sustainable development is now intricately linked not just to economic growth, but more importantly, to the quality of life of people in terms of their social status, political participation, cultural freedom, environmental justice and inclusive development. For previously colonized nations like Nigeria, these linkages are believed to have been influenced by the legacies of colonial rule, positively or otherwise. Through the Gender Lens: A Century of Social and Political Development in Nigeria looks at how colonialism has enabled or hindered the roles of the state in promoting inclusive development in general, and gender equality, in particular, in the process of nation building. In this edited volume, scholars analyze a host of policies, strategies and programs, as well as empirical evidence, to expose how types of governance — from direct colonial rule in the country from 1914, through her independence in 1960, a Republic in 1963, and to different post-independence governance periods — have influenced gender relations, and the impacts of these on Nigerian women. Diverse sectoral perspectives from education, health, culture, environment, and especially politics, are presented to explain the level of attainment (or otherwise) of gender equality and the implications for Nigeria’s road to sustainable development. The emphasis on the role of the state in development particularly indicts the social and political domains of governance. Hence, the main focus of inquiry in the volume. In its twelve chapters, the authors analyze available data and other information to draw relevant conclusions, identify lessons of experience, including from some cross-country comparisons, and make concrete recommendations for more gender-inclusive systems of governance in the next century of Nigeria’s nationhood.




Social Dynamics of Adolescent Fertility in Sub-Saharan Africa


Book Description

This examination of changes in adolescent fertility emphasizes the changing social context within which adolescent childbearing takes place.




Applying Quantitative Bias Analysis to Epidemiologic Data


Book Description

Bias analysis quantifies the influence of systematic error on an epidemiology study’s estimate of association. The fundamental methods of bias analysis in epi- miology have been well described for decades, yet are seldom applied in published presentations of epidemiologic research. More recent advances in bias analysis, such as probabilistic bias analysis, appear even more rarely. We suspect that there are both supply-side and demand-side explanations for the scarcity of bias analysis. On the demand side, journal reviewers and editors seldom request that authors address systematic error aside from listing them as limitations of their particular study. This listing is often accompanied by explanations for why the limitations should not pose much concern. On the supply side, methods for bias analysis receive little attention in most epidemiology curriculums, are often scattered throughout textbooks or absent from them altogether, and cannot be implemented easily using standard statistical computing software. Our objective in this text is to reduce these supply-side barriers, with the hope that demand for quantitative bias analysis will follow.




Socioeconomic Distribution of Cervical Cancer, in Relation to Early Marriage and Pregnancy


Book Description

A case-control study based on data from the vaginal cytologic survey of Memphis, Tennessee, which reached all levels of the city, is used to relate the etiology of cervical cancer to socioeconomic status, age at 1st marriage, and age at 1st pregnancy. Because evidence suggests that the epidemiologic distribution of squamous cell carcinoma differs from that of adenocarcinoma, cases are limited to the squamous type (SCC). Because of the different racial incidence of SCC and other types of cervical cancer, all data are presented separately by race. Among never-married white women, 6.5 cases of SCC would be statistically expected; 0 were found. Among never-married black women 3.5 would be expected; 1 was found. For intraepithelial carcinoma (IC) 10.4 cases would be expected for whites and 5 were found; 6.6 expected for nonwhite , 3 found. Among married whites, cases of SCC and IC were roughly the same as expected but age at marriage under age 18, expected cases of SCC were 25.8, observed were 48; expected IC was 34.9, observed was 66. (p=.001 for SCC and p=.0001 for IC). Among nonwhites, expected SCC for women married under 18 was 38.0 observed was 37; expected IC 38.4, observed 36. The expected and observed cases gradually came into agreement until age at 1st marriage reached 25+. Then for whites expected SCC was 25.1 and observed was 14; for nonwhites expected SCC was 12.3 and observed was 7. For IC, expected for whites was 27.7, observed 17 and for nonwhite 6.6 expected and 10 observed. For white women similar figures showed age at 1st pregnancy and socioeconomic area of residence are definitely associated with histologically confirmed cases of invasive and intraepithelial carcinoma of the cervix as well as with uncomfirmed cases with suspicious and positive cytologic findings. Early pregnancy and lower categories. For nonwhite women, although age at 1st marriage is not associated with either form of cancer, early pregnancy is associated with invasive cervical cancer as well as unconfirmed cases with suspicious or positive cytologic findings. Age at 1st pregnancy and marriage were highly correlated. The data are cons istent with the view that age at 1st pregnancy, alone or in conjunction with early marriage, is a determinant of cervical cancer. Number of pregnancies was not related. It is possible an unidentified 3rd factor is responsible.




Born to Beg! The Challenge of Alms-transaction in Northern Nigeria


Book Description

Born to Beg! The Challenge of Alms-transaction in Northern Nigeria By: Dr. ‘Tunji Adewuyi Born to Beg! The Challenge of Alms-transaction in Northern Nigeria is a narration of street begging which has become pandemic in Nigeria. Begging comes in two broad forms. The first is linked to poverty as a cause and consequence, is a feature of all societies and responds to poverty-alleviating measures. The second which is the focus of this book is cultural and “expressed in terms of legal rights or of established customs which have the essential binding characteristics of law”. Beginning from childhood and continuing into adulthood, beggars of this category are a huge demographic category and considerable social problem in Nigeria. This book has explored this problem and come up with suggestions that may halt new entrants into begging and bring street beggars to respectability.




Closing the Gap in a Generation


Book Description

Social justice is a matter of life and death. It affects the way people live, their consequent chance of illness, and their risk of premature death. We watch in wonder as life expectancy and good health continue to increase in parts of the world and in alarm as they fail to improve in others.




Ending Child Marriage


Book Description

Ending child marriage is not only a moral imperative—it is a strategic imperative that will further critical U.S. foreign policy interests in development, prosperity, stability, and the rule of law.




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