Tick tick boom: The rise of child marriage in Indonesia during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Introduction: Child marriage is a global phenomenon where one in six girls aged under 19 are married as child brides that are exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, in which girls are disproportionately affected by this practice. Therefore, this study aimed to provide reliable numbers of child marriages in Indonesia during the pandemic.Methods: Records from all 412 [Islamic] Religious Courts at the city/district level provided by the Supreme Court of The Republic of Indonesia were analysed, particularly the numbers of child marriage dispensation applications (bride and/or groom is below 19 years old) from 2019 to 2021.Results: New child marriage dispensation application numbers in 2019, 2020, and 2021 were 24,865, 64,225, and 62,890 cases, respectively, of which 2-4% of new applications were withdrawn every year. Up to 65% of new applications from 2019 to 2021 were consistently registered in six provinces in Java. However, the top-rank provinces with the rise of new applications in 2020 and 2021 when compared to records in 2019 were from outside Java, including Papua Barat, DI Aceh, Jambi, Maluku, Sulawesi Utara, Sumatera Barat, and Bengkulu.Conclusions: The child marriages in Indonesia skyrocketed by 2.5 times during the pandemic, represented by the rise of new child marriage dispensation applications to the Religious Courts between 2020 and 2021.Policy implications: Stakeholders should consider socio-economic and psycho-cultural factors in planning child marriage intervention programs during the pandemic, including involving local/religious leaders, tightening the marriage dispensation process, and prioritising areas with high percentages of poverty and the girl population.

Factors associated with child marriage during the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia

“…On the other hand, the minimum legal age limit for brides and grooms in Indonesia is 19 years after a long battle of 45 years to increase the brides' minimum age limit from 16 years (Grijns & Horii, 2018;Julianto et al, 2022). As consistently found in previous studies, child marriage negatively affect the children who are involved because it could violate their basic rights (Grijns & Horii, 2018).…”

“…new province), which could be outliers for this study. The complete description from 34 provinces has been reported elsewhere (Julianto et al, 2022).…”

“…The condition was worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic because the number of marriage dispensation applications steadily increased, which happened not only in Indonesia but globally (Alqahtani & Alqahtani, 2022;Arshad, 2020;Bachtiar et al, 2021;Julianto et al, 2022;Subchi et al, 2021). A study among Bangladeshi, Rohingya, Jordanians, and Syrians found that these refugee girls were having a higher risk to be married than local girls or the host community, which mainly because of the curbing policy and the impacted family's economic situation (Baird et al, 2022).…”