Topic: Eradicating Child Marriage
Country: India
Delegate Name: Bridget DeLapp
School: Forest Hills Central High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All India position papers GLIMUN 2012 committees
Child marriage is a serious problem that many growing countries around the world have to face. For women married under 18, the mental and physical damage due to this can be numerous and permanent. Girls that are subject to marriage at a young age have been proven through multiple studies to be more likely to drop out of school, have a higher risk for health problems, have a higher risk of death and they are more vulnerable to violence. Although prevalent in many countries because of religious beliefs, significant efforts have been made to lessen religious influence and increase the restraints against child marriage on both the state and federal levels. It is important that these efforts continue and grow stronger.
India is strongly affected by child marriage and their growing population somewhat prohibits their government from quickly eradicating the problem. However throughout the years, India's government has implemented policies, incentives and regulations that have begun to lessen the number of child marriages within their borders. The Child Marriage Restraint Act of 1929, also called the Sarda Act was enacted in India to eliminate the dangers placed on young girls who have been married early. It is applied to all Indian citizens and establishes the punishments that would take place if a person is found guilty of performing or taking part in a child marriage. Amendments were made in 1940 and in 1978 to increase the legal marriage age from the initial ages (male 21 or younger, female 18 and younger). The next significant step India has taken to eradicate child marriage is outlined in the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA) in 2006. Its purpose was to extend the influence of the Child Marriage Restraint Act and to fix its shortcomings. The PCMA takes a more aggressive stance against child marriage. While its predecessor focused on restraining child marriage, the PCMA seeks to prevent and prohibit. The PCMA also gives children a voice, allowing children forced into marriage to void their marriage if they wish to. The CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women) is also enacted in India. Its purpose is the end all discrimination against women. However, India declared that because of its population size, it was impractical to have a registration of marriages. These programs have successfully helped India move toward eradicating child marriage.
With this, India calls for the continued funding and effort to these programs that have proven to turn India in the direction away from child marriage. India also believes that incentives to people, such as having parents and children who refuse to take part in child marriage receive money from the government, are great ways to move away from the dependence on child marriage to secure a stable income. Poverty is abundant in India, and sometimes parents believe the only way to give their child opportunities is to marry them off to wealthier people. India would like to fight against this notion through education. India looks to educate its people on the dangers of child marriage, and increase awareness throughout its nation. India would like to strengthen its government programs and would like to work with the UN to create stronger international standards against child marriage.
