In the United States, thousands of girls are legally married each year

In the United States, 300,000 girls got married between 2000 and 2018. On the other side of the Atlantic, these marriages are celebrated easily and guarantee spouses and accomplice families total impunity, at the risk of minor children. A moving podcast aired on March 5 on France Inter gives the floor to these girls who have become wives. These chilling testimonies tell the total absence of a regulatory framework and the daily violence, perpetrated in full legality.

If no law in the United States encourages adults to marry children, the absence of specific rules opens the door to serious abuses: 43 of the country’s 50 states authorize minors to marry provided they provide parental consent. Legally, a minor can get married from the age of 16 with parental permission and even below with the permission of the judge. In nine states this authorization is granted without age limits and a child can be united with an adult as long as the justice authorizes it. And authorities often issue these certificates without question. In the United States, the lobbies that defend individual freedoms are powerful and make no concessions, even at the cost of sacrificing the lives of girls.

Convict girls for the benefit of their abusers

Indeed, in the United States, the legal framework offered by marriage allows for the decriminalization of sexual acts involving children, as reported by McGill University in Montreal. If the law prohibits sexual relations between persons who have not reached the sexual age of majority and adults, it does not apply in the legal framework of marriage: an adult can therefore have sexual relations with a child if she is his wife.

UNICEF estimates that 12 million underage girls get married every year around the world. These marriages have a terrible impact on the wives involved and their communities. Young girls are at high risk of domestic and sexual violence. In addition, early pregnancy is considered unsafe according to Plan International, which helps children, estimates that it is the leading cause of death among 15-19 year olds. The NGO also points out that these unions are almost always accompanied by school dropouts.

If countries affirm their desire to fight against these unions, the laws are rarely on the side of the victims. For example, in France, the legal age of marriage is set at 18, but an exemption can be obtained if the parents authorize it and the prosecutor considers that the marriage responds to a compelling reason.