Data reveals 80,000 married teens in Malaysia

UN says early marriage is denying young people their basic rights to reach their full potential academically and socially.

KUALA LUMPUR: A United Nations report has revealed a 2010 Malaysian population census showing that there was a total of 80,000 young girls and 70,000 young boys between the ages of 15-19 who were already married.

Speaking at the launch of the report entitled “The power of 1.8 billion: adolescents, youth and the transformation of the future”, UN resident coordinator in Malaysia Michelle Gyles-McDonnough said, “Early marriage denies young people the basic right to the full realisation of their potential and better options must be made available to Malaysian youth.”

Michelle also said that starting a family this young caused these kids to abandon their studies with many never finishing their basic education much less pursuing higher studies.

Besides this clear drawback, other damning data showed 44,000 children of school-going age had never even attended school as of 2009.

She remarked, ”This has certain negative implications on their future, creating situations that will cost much more to solve than if the problem is averted at its inception.”

She added that this left Malaysia’s young deficient in the proper skills to become productive members in the country’s labour market, more so since Malaysia was working towards achieving high-income nation status.

Another aspect of the report dealt with teen pregnancies and unemployment among the young including reports of mounting social problems stemming from an acute lack of information and services pertaining to sexual and reproductive health.

In her address, Michelle remarked that a 2010 UNGASS Country Progress Report also showed that in 2009, 477 girls under 15 years old underwent pre-marital HIV screening including two who were under 10 years old.

She said, ”If we have children as young as 10 registering for pre-marital counselling, then you have a problem here.”

Michelle added, ”We need to create opportunities for our young to find their place as leaders, innovators, change-agents and entrepreneurs of the future.

“The State of World Population report emphasises that one point – that investments in young people, particularly young women and adolescent girls – has the potential to unleash the power for greater human development and advancement.”