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Abstract
Early Marriage is one of the global problems that undermine the personal development and the rights of women very seriously. It is very delicate among the developing countries such as Ethiopia. Under-aged girls in Ethiopia are susceptible for child marriage since a long time ago. Irrespective of the efforts of the government, the society, and the international community; the problem is still persistent throughout the country. The traditional beliefs, religion, and the economic motives are recognized as the root causes of early marriage in Ethiopia. It exposes the pre-matured children into psychological and emotional traumas, severe violence, denial of social services, reproductive health problems and migration to the nearby poor towns and abroad. Thus, sensitizing the stakeholders, educating girls, and supporting the runaways and others who would otherwise the victims of early marriage are the way forward to reduce the adverse consequences of child marriage in Ethiopia.
Key Words: Early Marriage, Human Right, Tradition, Violence, Psychological Traumas, Sensitization, Ethiopia.
Introduction
Since a long time, women and girls are victims of diversified socio-economic and political violations and exclusions. They are severely affected by sexual violence, early marriage and harmful traditional practices such as female genital mutilation and tattooing. Due to these inhuman and discriminatory practices, women and girls are banned from access to education, health care services, employment and other opportunities and resources. Early Marriage is, therefore, one of the ways of violation of human and women's rights.
It is universally accepted that they are those who are adults and matured can only choose their marriage partners. Contrary to this fact, all over the world, within a single day, almost 39,000 girls are getting into marriage before their maturity without their will and consent (VOA, 2015). Thus, a marriage can be said early when the person getting married is immature in age (below 18 years) and in physiological development.
In 2010 alone, more than 67 million women who were found in the age brackets of 20 and 24 had been exposed for early marriage in developing countries except China (UNFPA 2012). This is very worst in Africa in general and in Ethiopia in particular. In Ethiopia, from every 10 women who were getting into marriage in 2011, about 3 had married before maturity age...