Child Marriage in the Middle East and North Africa

Publication Year: 2017
Publication Author: UNICEF Middle East and North Africa Regional Office in collaboration with ICRW

While the rate of child marriage in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has for decades been on the decline, the rates are still concerning and do not capture the variation across the region at the sub-national level. Even more concerning is the prevalence of child marriage in countries and regions affected by conflict, where it is particularly challenging gathering reliable data.

To take a closer look at child marriage during conflict and the remaining gaps in international and regional responses to child marriage prevention, ICRW teamed up with UNICEF and focused on six countries of interest – Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Sudan and Yemen.

Our collaborative divided findings and recommendations for the regional analysis in five outcomes of the Global Programme: (1) Girls’ Voice & Agency, (2) Household and Community Attitudes and Behaviors, (3) Service Delivery, (4) Legal Context and (5) Evidence Generation.

The following executive summary, full report and country briefs can be downloaded below.