Mourtada Rima, Schlecht Jennifer, DeJong Jocelyn
Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut, P.O. Box 11-0236/EPHD, Riad El Solh, Beirut, Lebanon.
Women's Refugee Commission, 122 E 42nd Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10168 USA.
Confl Health. 2017 Nov 14;11(Suppl 1):27. doi: 10.1186/s13031-017-0131-z. eCollection 2017.
Recent reports have suggested that child marriage among Syrians may be increasing as a result of displacement and conflict. This study sought to gather qualitative data about the factors that promote child marriage practices among Syrian refugees in Al Marj area in the Bekaa valley, Lebanon, where the majority of Syrian refugees have settled in Lebanon. The second aim of this study was to generate recommendations on how to mitigate the drivers and consequences of child marriage practices based on the findings.
Eight focus group discussions were conducted separately with married and unmarried young women and mothers and fathers of married and unmarried women. Furthermore, researchers conducted 11 key informant interviews with service providers and stakeholders to understand how conflict and displacement influenced marriage practices of Syrian refugees in Al Marj community.
Although child marriage was a common practice in pre-conflict Syria, new factors seem to contribute to a higher risk of child marriage among Syrian refugees in Lebanon. Respondents cited conflict- and displacement-related safety issues and feeling of insecurity, the worsening of economic conditions, and disrupted education for adolescent women as driving factors. Service providers, young women, and parents also reported changes in some marriage practices, including a shorter engagement period, lower bride price, change in cousin marriage practices, and a reduced age at marriage.
Recommendations for interventions to mitigate the drivers of child marriage and its negative consequences should be built on a clear understanding of the local refugee context and the drivers of child marriage in refugee settings. Interventions should involve multiple stakeholders, they should be adjusted to target each specific context, age group and marital status. For these interventions to be effective, they should be addressed concurrently, and they should be delivered in a culturally sensitive and practical manner.
近期报告表明，由于流离失所和冲突，叙利亚的童婚现象可能正在增加。本研究旨在收集有关促进黎巴嫩贝卡谷地马尔杰地区叙利亚难民童婚行为的因素的定性数据，该地区是叙利亚难民在黎巴嫩的主要聚居地。本研究的第二个目的是根据研究结果就如何减轻童婚行为的驱动因素及其后果提出建议。
分别与已婚和未婚年轻女性以及已婚和未婚女性的父母进行了八次焦点小组讨论。此外，研究人员与服务提供者和利益相关者进行了11次关键信息访谈，以了解冲突和流离失所如何影响马尔杰社区叙利亚难民的婚姻行为。
尽管童婚在冲突前的叙利亚是一种常见现象，但新的因素似乎导致黎巴嫩的叙利亚难民童婚风险更高。受访者提到与冲突和流离失所相关的安全问题和不安全感、经济状况恶化以及青春期女性教育中断是驱动因素。服务提供者、年轻女性和父母还报告了一些婚姻行为的变化，包括订婚期缩短、彩礼降低、表亲婚姻行为改变以及结婚年龄降低。
减轻童婚驱动因素及其负面后果的干预措施建议应基于对当地难民情况以及难民环境中童婚驱动因素的清晰理解。干预措施应涉及多个利益相关者，应针对每个具体情况、年龄组和婚姻状况进行调整。为使这些干预措施有效，应同时进行，并且应以文化敏感和实际的方式实施。
