sa国际传媒

Syrian refugee Sahar, who was married at 13 Picture: Save The Children

One girl under 15 is married every seven seconds, according to a report by Save the Children released today 鈥� with girls as young as 10 married off, often to much older men, in countries including Afghanistan, Yemen, India and Somalia.

Early marriage not only deprives girls of education and听opportunities but increases the risk of death or childbirth听injuries if they have babies before their bodies are ready.

鈥淐hild marriage starts a cycle of disadvantage that denies听girls the most basic rights to learn, develop and be children,鈥澨齭aid Save the Children International CEO Helle Thorning-Schmidt.

鈥淕irls who marry too early often can鈥檛 attend school and听are more likely to face domestic violence, abuse and rape. They听fall pregnant and are exposed to STIs including HIV.鈥�

The report ranks countries from the best to the worst in听which to be a girl, based on child marriage, schooling, teen听pregnancy, maternal deaths and number of female lawmakers. Niger, Chad, Central African Republic, Mali and Somalia were ranked at the bottom of the index.

Researchers say conflict, poverty and humanitarian crises听are major factors that leave girls exposed to underage marriage.

Somalian former child bride Aisha, 15, and her two-year-old son Rayan听Picture: Save The Children

听

The shutting down of schools in the wake of the Ebola听outbreak led to an estimated 14,000 teen pregnancies in Sierra听Leone during the Ebola outbreak, Save the Children said.听

The global charity gave the example of Sahar, who did not听want to give her real name, a 14-year-old Syrian refugee in听Lebanon. Married to a 20-year-old man, aged just 13, Sahar is听now two months pregnant.

鈥淭he wedding day, I was imagining it would be a great day听but it wasn鈥檛. It was all misery. It was full of sadness,鈥� Save听the Children quoted Sahar as saying.

鈥淚 feel really blessed that I am having a baby. But I am a听child raising a child.鈥�

The United Nations鈥� children鈥檚 agency UNICEF estimates the number of听women married in childhood will grow from 700 million today to听around 950 million by 2030.

Save the Children鈥檚 report coincides with International Day听of the Girl today, which was set up by the United Nations听in 2011 to recognise the rights of the 1.1 billion girls around听the world and the challenges they face.

The , the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, covers humanitarian news, women鈥檚 rights, corruption and climate change.