According to UNICEF, Pakistan is home to nearly 19 million child brides. Although the country has made progress in reducing child marriage in recent years, UNICEF warns that the 2022 monsoon floods could reverse those gains and trigger an 18% increase in child marriage. As reported by Al Jazeera, worsening poverty and displacement fueled by climate change has given rise to forced child marriage—a phenomenon now known as “monsoon brides.”
Lost childhoods
Asifa* was only 13 when her parents told her she was getting married. At first, she imagined celebrations, gifts, and pretty clothes. But her new reality was far from festive. Her husband borrowed 300,000 rupees ($1,070) to pay her family—a debt he has not been able to repay. The transaction was driven not by tradition but by economic desperation after the 2022 floods destroyed her family’s farmland in Main Nara Valley.
Now 15 and a mother, Asifa reflected on her lost childhood:
“I never truly understood what marriage would involve…I never realized that it would imply being with a man older than me, someone I didn’t know or choose.”
Samina*, also from Sindh, was just 13 when her mother arranged her marriage to a cousin she barely knew. Her father couldn’t work due to mental illness, and the family’s income disappeared when the 2010 floods destroyed the homes where her mother worked. Her wedding brought in 200,000 rupees ($714)—a financial lifeline that may have spared her younger sisters from the same fate.
Samina’s family hoped marriage would bring her a better life, but instead, she faced many hardships. Her husband, a laborer, struggled to find jobs, and the lack of work took a toll on his mental health. Samina took on sewing work to support their five children.
“I regret this decision deeply”
Salwa married off her 12-year-old daughter after the 2010 floods destroyed their farmland and left the family struggling to survive. Her daughter married a 20-year-old man in exchange for 150,000 rupees ($535). But the young couple couldn’t manage on their own and returned to live with Salwa in Khan Mohammad Mallah.
Salwa said:
“When they took her to her new home, she clung to me, and we both wept. I regret this decision deeply, but I saw no other option at the time,”
Years later, Salwa helps raise her grandchildren and hopes to break the cycle of early marriage through education.
Climate crisis and forced child marriage
A 2023 study by Ohio State University confirmed that climate disasters increase child marriage rates, especially in countries where the practice already exists. According to the 2018 Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey, 3.6% of girls under 15 and 18.3% of those under 18 are married. In Sindh, nearly a quarter of girls marry before the age of 18 despite the 2014 Child Marriage Restraint Act which set the legal minimum age to 18.
Gulsher Panhwer, project manager at Sujag Sansar, a nongovernmental organization in Pakistan, said:
“There has been a notable uptick in forced marriages, particularly during the most catastrophic floods in the nation’s history – those of 2007, 2010 and 2022,”
Floods in Pakistan continue to destroy homes, wipe out livelihoods, and fuel food shortages. The 2022 floods severely hit agriculture, which supports one in three jobs in Pakistan, causing $12.97 billion in losses. In Sindh province alone, the floods affected over 4.8 million people—half of them children.
Pahhwer continued:
“With livelihoods destroyed and no reliable income, farmers, desperate to make ends meet, often resort to marrying off their daughters for an amount as modest as the price of a cow – or even less,”
Sujag Sansar believes the key to combating child marriage is education. In response to the rising phenomenon of “monsoon brides” the group works to empower girls and women by teaching them vocational skills, offering mental health support, and using theater and cultural events to raise awareness. The organization has observed a decline in child marriage in recent months, likely caused by fear of legal consequences.
Take action
Forced child marriage is a damaging consequence of climate-driven poverty. For girls like Samina, marriage brought isolation, fear, and a lost childhood. Help protect vulnerable children from this fate by signing our petition to end forced child marriage and support stronger protections for girls and boys in Pakistan and around the world.
*Some names have been changed.
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