塞拉利昂等多国欲解决童婚问题

AS IT IS 2015-10-18 Sierra Leone Faces Child Marriage Issue 塞拉利昂等多国欲解决童婚问题

The organization Girls Not Brides is a partnership¹ of more than 500 civil society groups from over 70 countries. They are working together to end child marriage. Girls Not Brides reports that, in some areas, the rates of child marriage have risen sharply. It also says child marriage can increase during natural and humanitarian² disasters. Now, the organization is urging governments worldwide to create policies and plans to end child marriage.

In Sierra Leone, the issue of child marriage is a growing concern.

Our story begins with a 16-year-old girl. She comes from a poor family in Sierra Leone. The girl started going out with a 30-year-old man because he was helping³ her financially. When she became pregnant, her stepfather told her to move out of the house and marry the man.

When the man discovered she was pregnant, he ended their relationship.

Mariama Munia Zombo says this kind of situation is all too common. She is a leader of the non-governmental organization Plan International Sierra Leone.

Poverty often leads parents to force girls to get married. When a girl is pregnant, it is seen as dishonoring the family so parents want her to marry.

Ms. Zombo says the Ebola crisis last year may have made things worse.

"There is a lot of anecdotal evidence that child marriage increased during the Ebola crisis, but no study has proven that child marriage actually increased," she says.

She adds that girls who marry at an early age are less likely to continue their education and are more likely to be abused by husbands. They are also more likely to have difficulties during pregnancy⁴ than older mothers. Sierra Leone has one of the world’s highest rates of women dying while giving birth.

Currently, the laws in Sierra Leone are conflicting. One law says child marriage is illegal. Another says that a girl under 18 can be married so long as a parent agrees.

The government is working on raising public recognition of the effects of child marriage through local community and religious leaders. But there is a long way to go for Sierra Leone and many other countries.

The group Girls Not Brides reports that about 15 million girls are married every year before they reach 18 years. It says that if no action is taken, 1.2 billion girls will be married as children by 2050.

Words in This Story

anecdotal –adj. related to a short story about an interesting or funny event or occurrence

society – n. people in general thought of as living together in organized communities with shared laws, traditions, and values

1 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

2 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

3 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

4 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。