13% of Lebanese girls and 23% of Syrian displaced girls married before the age of 18

The Institute of Political Sciences at Saint Joseph University organized a seminar to present the findings of a survey on early marriage funded by the Canadian Embassy in Beirut. The Lebanese database was gathered from electoral constituencies while the Syrian statistics were provided by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, in addition to a field study that was conducted by Political Science students in the North, Bekaa, Mount Lebanon, Beirut and the South. Political Science professor, Dr. Hala Itani, analyzed the collected data which indicated that 13% of girls in Lebanon got married under the age of 18, with the Alawite community recording the highest figure (16%) followed by the Sunni  (13%), Shia (12%) and Druze (10%). Among Christians, the Maronite and Greek Orthodox communities scored the highest (7%) followed by Greek Catholics and the remaining Christians (6%). Apart from confessional differences, Itani clarified that the study showed differences between regions with Hermel area in Beqaa accounting for 16%; Minyeh in Diniye, Tyre, Hasbaya, Tripoli and Akkar (14-15%); Batrun, Jezzine, Matn, Baabda, Kesrwan, Byblos and the Chuf areas reported 14-15%, and lastly, Beirut which recorded 8%. Concerning Syrian refugee women, UNHCR data indicated that 23% of girls living in Lebanon got married under 18 years of age. Similarly, 4454 Syrian girls in the age group 12-17 out of 70269 girls got married under 18, which is equivalent to 6.3% for girls against 0.2 for boys. (An Nahar, 1 July 2015)