[Al Ahram] The number of child marriages has doubled among Syrian refugee girls in Jordan because of poverty and fear of sexual violence, international agencies said on Wednesday. Save the Children, in a report, "Too Young to Wed," said children marrying in Syria before the country's conflict erupted in 2011 accounted for 13 percent of all marriages.
But "early and forced marriage among Syrian refugee girls in Jordan has doubled since the onset of war," according to the report.
It said 48 percent of them were forced into unions with men at least 10 years their senior.
"Child marriage is devastating for those girls concerned," said Saba al-Mobaslat, Save the Children's country director in Jordan.
"Girls who marry before 18 are more likely to experience domestic violence than their peers who marry later, and they have much more limited access to sexual and reproductive health, putting their young bodies at extreme risk if and when they become pregnant."