Child marriage customs still preserved in Guatemala, life is difficult for an 11-year-old bride

According to a report by the New York Times on February 9, the custom of child marriage is prevalent in Guatemala, and the law stipulates that women can marry at the age of 14. However, Peten Province, the northernmost province of the country, seems to have heard of the law. Illegal brides are everywhere, and 11-year-old pregnant mothers are not uncommon. These young girls have a difficult life after marriage and become vassals of men prematurely.

In fact, World Customs Network, child marriage is widespread in more than 50 countries around the world, especially in rural areas of some developing countries. According to a survey by the Population Commission, nearly 53% of women aged 20 to 24 in villages in Guatemala are married before the age of 18, and 13% of them are even married before the age of 15. It is understood that these underage brides generally have a miserable fate after marriage. They often drop out of school at a young age, suffer domestic violence and sexual abuse, take huge risks without basic medical care, and control every aspect of their lives by their older husbands. In their eyes, they are just domestic servants and sex slaves.

In addition, because their bodies and minds are not yet mature, these young mothers are prone to complications during childbirth, and they often do not have the means to go to the hospital for labor. According to the International Health Alliance, Peteng has the highest maternal mortality rate in Guatemala, with 172 deaths per 100,000 pregnant women. The neonatal mortality rate is also as high as 4%.

These young mothers often cannot escape the fate of being abandoned by their husbands. When the girl, Asri Aracely, was born for four months, her husband said that the child was not his and left her. Now at the age of 15, she has to raise her children alone. She said: "He didn't give me a penny when I was alive. My son is now 1 years old and he has never even come to see him."

At present, Asri is not the only girl in dire straits. According to statistics, in mid-2015 alone, about 550,000 underage brides were married in Guatemala.