Publication: The Role of Identification in Ending Child Marriage
Date
2016-07
ISSN
Published
2016-07
Author(s)
Abstract
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development’s Goal for Gender Equality (SDG5 to: Achieve
Gender Equality and Empower Women and Girls) sets a series
of ambitious targets that will measure progress towards
attaining this goal. One such target is to: ‘eliminate all
harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage
and female genital mutilation. In this paper we examine how
efforts to achieve legal identity for all, including birth
registration for all, can contribute to ending child
marriage. The authors begin by setting out the current
context presenting data on child marriage and its impacts
and then turn to birth registration drawing out its links
with fundamental human rights and development goals. We then
present estimates of the numbers of unregistered children in
the world’s global regions based on the World Bank
Identification for Development Initiative (ID4D) dataset.
The authors turn next to the link between birth registration
and child marriage rates6 using data on birth registration
in the 106 countries for which authors also have data on
child marriage. The authors find a correlation between high
birth registration rates and low child marriage rates and
discuss this link in the context of evidence on the
underlying causes and drivers of child marriage. The authors
explore the links between birth registration and child
marriage in greater depth in two case studies: the first one
examines the role of identity papers, particularly birth and
marriage certificates, in the enforcement of minimum age of
marriage laws for Syrian refugees in Jordan; the second one
discusses how a recently adopted strategy to streamline the
process for obtaining birth certificates in Indonesia can
contribute to reducing child marriage. Despite evidence of a
correlation, however, a policy pursuing universal birth
registration is unlikely to have impact on child marriage
rates unless it is embedded in broader efforts to end child
marriage, including legal reform, advocacy, and national and
local policies and programs which work with communities to
change social norms and are designed to reach people that
are at risk from being excluded from national efforts, for
example refugees and internally displaced peoples.
Citation
“Hanmer, Lucia; Elefante, Marina. 2016. The Role of Identification in Ending Child Marriage; The Role of Identification in Ending Child Marriage. © World Bank, Washington, DC. http://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/25184 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”