Forty-seven percent of married female Syrian refugees between the ages of 20 and 24 living in the Western Bekaa region of Lebanon were wed before the age of 18, according to a recent survey conducted by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), the American University in Beirut and Sawa for Development and Aid. Twenty-four percent of girls between the ages of fifteen and seventeen were also married. According to UNFPA, the rate of child marriage among Syrian refugees is as much as four times higher than in Syria before the outbreak of civil war. Education rates have also declined dramatically for refugee girls, with fewer than seventeen percent of girls enrolled in school by the age of sixteen. The survey’s authors recommended increasing school enrollment for girls and raising awareness among Syrian refugee populations about the dangers of child marriage for girls and their families.
Compiled from: New study finds child marriage rising among most vulnerable Syrian refugees, UNFPA (January 31, 2017).