Teen marriage, one of the most daunting youth and reproductive health problems in Indonesia and the world, is to be comprehensively discussed at the next International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP) in Nusa Dua, Bali, from Jan. 25 through 28.

Fifteen-year old Ani has just given birth to a baby girl. She was married to her 26-year old husband when she was barely 14.

“It is hard to have a baby but I’m happy,” said Ani, resting on a wooden bench in a neighbor’s house in Talaka, a hamlet in the hilly Bonto Tangnga Timur village in Bantaeng regency, South Sulawesi.

Her sister, Anti, now 17, also married when she was 14. The majority of girls in Talaka get married at a very young age, usually between 14 and 15-years-old.

In many parts of Indonesia, early marriage is commonly associated with poverty, however, in Talaka and other remote villages in South Sulawesi, early marriage is often based on centuries-old tradition.

“People here strongly believe that girls must immediately accept the first marriage proposal, otherwise the girl will never find a suitable husband. It is tradition. Postponing marriage is a family disgrace that leads to people calling their daughters ‘old spinster’ or lolo bangko in the local language,” said Saldi Iswandi, a young reproductive and family planning field officer in the village.

Saldi and other youth in Bantaeng are actively trying to educate young people and their parents in hopes of preventing them from entering into marriage too young.

In Lombok Island, West Nusa Tenggara, youth marriage is also common.

Nurhasanah is expecting her first baby. She is 17-years old now, but she got married when she was 15. After the marriage ceremony, her husband left her to work as a migrant worker in Malaysia for two years.

The young mother-to-be lives in Pemongkong village in the Jerowaru district, East Lombok, with her parents-in-law.

The majority of the village inhabitants live in poverty. Most women are married in their early teens, at 12 to 15 years old, and have an average of five to 12 children during their reproductive years.

Rodiawan, a member of the Pemongkong village health and family development program, under the National Program for Community Empowerment (PNPM Mandiri), said that the village faces mounting problems — teen marriage and the disintegration of families as one or both parents leave to work overseas.

Children suffer from serious malnourishment and rarely go to school. The maternal mortality rate (MMR) and child mortality rate (CMR) are also skyrocketing. Pemongkong village greatly contributes to the high MMR rate in East Lombok, currently at 242.9 per 100,000 live births. The CMR for East Lombok sits at 55 per 1,000 live births.

Child brides: Young mothers in a remote village in West Java receive training on family planning and health issues from young medical doctors and students of Padjadjaran University. Most of these young women married when they were as young as 12 or 15.(Courtesy of Nanda Fitri Wardani)

Ani and Nurhasanah are just two among the millions of girls across the country who married in their teens. Based on data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), around 6 percent of boys and 13 percent of girls aged 15-19, about 22 million boys and girls, are already married.

Back in 2013, the of Health Ministry’s National Basic Health Research Survey revealed data suggesting that 42 percent of girls aged 15-19 are already married.

Meanwhile, UNICEF data shows that one in six Indonesian girls marry before they turn 18, about 340,000 girls every year and around 50,000 girls marry before they reach 15 every year.

Many factors place girls at risk of early marriage including poverty, customary or religious laws, family honor, inadequate legislative frameworks and the perception that marriage will provide protection.

In Indonesia, things are more complicated. A law, issued in 1974, sets the minimum age of marriage for girls at 16 years and 19 for boys. This law contradicts the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). The government now agrees with the convention, that marriage below the age of 18-years is a fundamental violation of human rights.

Teen marriage is also linked to other rights — such as the right to freedom of expression, the right to protection from all forms of abuse and the right to be protected from harmful traditional practices.

Within the framework of the national agenda plan, it is considered that teen marriage badly affects a girl’s development by resulting in early pregnancy, interrupting school and limiting future career opportunities. Teen marriage also affects boys, but to a lesser degree than girls.

Numerous civil society groups and human rights’ activists have demanded a judicial review of the Indonesian Marriage Law to increase the eligible marriage age for girls to 18-years. However, the Constitutional Court has not find anything wrong with allowing 16-year old girls to get married, thus finding no justifiable reasons to increase the minimum marriage age to 18-years.

Siswanto Agus Wilopo, professor in reproductive health at Gajah Mada University in Yogyakarta, believes that teen marriage and pregnancy are beyond social, cultural, economic and health issues.

“Pregnant youth face a double risk for a variety of health repercussions and even risk dying from pregnancy-related complications,” said Siswanto.

The country’s population currently sits at around 245 million (BPS 2010), with the number of young people aged 10-24 considered to be approximately 63.4 million, the largest number of young people in the country’s demographic history. Addressing teen marriage and teen pregnancy is now a crucial challenge in Indonesia.

“Indonesia’s future is at stake if we do not address this issue immediately. Our youth face harsh competition on the global stage, we should help them reach their utmost potential,” said Siswanto.

Youth united: <)