終止美國的兒童婚姻 America's Child Marriage Problem

IN the United States today, thousands of children under 18 have recently taken marital vows — mostly girls married to adult men, often with approval from local judges. In at least one case, a 10-year-old boy was legally married.

在當今美國，近年有數以千計不滿18歲的孩子立下了結婚誓言——主要是女孩嫁給成年男人，他們通常會獲得地方法官的許可。至少在一個案例中，一名10歲的男孩已經合法結婚。

How is this possible? The minimum marriage age in most states is 18, but every state allows exceptions under which children under age 18 can wed.

這怎麼可能呢？大多數州的最低結婚年齡爲18歲，但每個州都允許存在例外，允許18歲以下的未成年人結婚。

The first common exception is for children marrying with “parental consent.” Most states allow children age 16 or 17 to marry if their parents sign the marriage license application.

第一個常見的例外就是子女在“父母同意”的情況下可以結婚。大多數州允許16或17歲的孩子結婚，只要他們的父母簽署了結婚證申請書。

Of course, one person’s “parental consent” can be another’s “parental coercion,” but state laws typically do not call for anyone to investigate whether a child is marrying willingly. Even in the case of a girl’s sobbing openly while her parents sign the application and force her into marriage, the clerk usually has no authority to intervene. In fact, in most states there are no laws that specifically forbid forced marriage.

當然，某人的“父母同意”可能意味着另一個人遭到“父母強迫”，但州法律通常不要求任何人調查孩子是否自願結婚。哪怕一個女孩當場在哭泣，看着她的父母簽署申請書，強迫她結婚，工作人員通常也無權干涉。實際上，在大多數州，沒有法律明確禁止強迫婚姻。

The second common marriage-age exception is for children marrying with judicial approval. This exception lowers the marriage age below 16 in many states, and many states do not specify a minimum age. Judges in those states can allow the marriage even of an elementary school student.

第二個常見的例外是未成年人在獲得司法批准的情況下可以結婚，這種例外將很多州的結婚年齡降至16歲以下。這些州的法官甚至可以允許小學生結婚。

But judges would never do that, right?

但法官們絕不會這麼做，對嗎？

Unchained at Last, a nonprofit I founded to help women escape from arranged, forced marriages, recently retrieved health department data on the ages of people married in New Jersey, where 16- and 17-year-olds may wed with parental consent, and children under 15 may marry with judicial approval.

我創辦了非營利組織“終於掙脫鏈鎖”(Unchained at Last)，以幫助女性逃脫包辦、強迫的婚姻。我們最近檢索了衛生部門有關新澤西州結婚年齡的數據，在該州，16、17歲的未成年人在獲得父母同意的情況下就可以結婚，而15歲的孩子獲得司法批准後也可以結婚。

Unfortunately, the available records do not include any identifying details about marriages beyond the ages of the participants. Nevertheless, the data show that 3,499 children were married in New Jersey between 1995 and 2012. Most were age 16 or 17 and married with parental consent, but 178 were between ages 10 and 15, meaning a judge approved their marriages.

遺憾的是，可獲取的記錄中不包括除年齡外的任何婚姻細節。儘管如此，這些數據顯示，在1995年至2012年間，新澤西州有3499名未成年人結婚。其中大多數是16或17歲，在父母同意的情況下結婚，但有178人的結婚年齡在10歲到15歲之間，這意味着法官允許他們結婚。

Shockingly, 91 percent of the children were married to adults, often at ages or with age differences that could have triggered statutory-rape charges, not a marriage license. A judge in 2006 approved the marriage of a 10-year-old boy to an 18-year-old woman. A judge in 1996 allowed a 12-year-old girl to marry a 25-year-old man.

令人震驚的是，91%的孩子與成人結婚，其年齡之小、或年齡差距之大，本應觸發法定強姦罪的指控，而不是一紙結婚證。2006年，一名法官批准一名10歲的男孩與18歲女性結婚。1996年，一名法官允許一名12歲的女孩嫁給25歲的男子。

Based on my own experience working with forced-marriage victims across the United States, I am sure many of these children had to marry against their will. Forced marriage is a widespread but often ignored problem in the United States. A survey by the Tahirih Justice Center, an NGO that provides services to immigrant women and girls, identified as many as 3,000 known or suspected forced-marriage cases just between 2009 and 2011, many involving girls under age 18. Tactics used against the victims included threats of ostracism, beatings or death.

根據我自己與美國強迫婚姻受害者共事的經歷，我確定很多孩子被迫結婚。在美國，強迫婚姻是一個廣泛但通常遭到忽視的問題。爲移民的女性和女孩提供服務的非政府組織塔希莉法律服務中心(Tahirih Justice Center)所做的調查發現，僅在2009年至2011年期間就有多達3000個已知或涉嫌強迫婚姻的案例，其中很多女孩不滿18歲。對付受害者的手段包括對其發出驅逐、毆打或死亡的威脅。

Forced and child marriages happen almost everywhere, yet only 10 states or jurisdictions have specific laws that can be used to prevent or punish forced marriage. The Tahirih survey focused on immigrants, and it identified child marriages or forced marriages, or both, in immigrant communities from 56 countries of origin in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas, but it also identified such marriage in so-called American families.

幾乎每個地方都存在強迫婚姻和童婚，但只有10個州或司法管轄區有能夠用來防止或懲處強迫婚姻的具體法律。塔希莉法律服務中心的調查側重於移民，該調查發現來自亞洲、非洲、歐洲及美洲的56個國家的移民社區存在童婚或強迫婚姻，或者兩者都有，但也發現所謂的美國家庭也存在此類婚姻。

The survey found child marriage or forced marriage, or both, in families of many faiths, including Muslim, Christian (particularly Catholic), Hindu, Buddhist and Sikh. I have seen child and forced marriage in the Orthodox Jewish community, and I know survivors from Mormon and Unification Church backgrounds.

該調查發現，存在童婚或強迫婚姻或兩者都有的家庭遵從各種信仰，包括穆斯林、基督教徒（特別是天主教徒）、印度教徒、佛教徒及錫克教徒。我看到正統猶太教社區存在童婚和強迫婚姻，我遇到過摩門教、統一教背景的受害者。

Parents give many reasons for forcing their children into marriage, including controlling the children’s sexuality and behavior and protecting “family honor.” Often families use forced marriage to enhance their status or gain economic security.

父母給出了很多迫使孩子結婚的理由，比如控制孩子的性取向和行爲，保護“家族榮譽”。這些家庭通常利用強迫婚姻提高他們的地位或獲得經濟保障。

The New Jersey data show that 90 percent of the children married were girls, which is consistent with global trends. Across the world, child marriage and forced marriage disproportionately affect girls and women.

新澤西州的數據顯示，未成年人結婚有90%是女孩，這符合全球的趨勢。在世界各地，童婚和強迫婚姻對女孩和女性的影響尤其大。

Unchained at Last also requested health department data on the ages of people recently married in New York State, where 16- and 17-year-olds may wed with “parental consent” and 14- and 15-year-olds may wed with judicial approval. The data show that 3,853 children were married between 2000 and 2010.

“終於掙脫鏈鎖”組織還從衛生部取得了紐約州最近結婚人羣的年齡數據，在該州，16、17歲的子女獲得“父母同意”就可以結婚，15歲的孩子獲得司法批准也可以結婚。這些數據顯示，在2000至2010年期間，有3853名未成年人結婚。

Data after 2010 excludes New York City, where statistics are kept separately. Still, the state data show that in 2011 alone, a 14-year-old married a 26-year-old, a 15-year-old was wed to a 28-year-old, another 15-year-old was wed to a 25-year-old and a 15-year-old married someone age “35 to 39.” All of those marriages were approved by New York judges.

2010年以後的數據不包括紐約市的數據，其數據被分開保存。但該州的數據顯示，僅在2011年，一名14歲的孩子跟26歲的成人結婚，一名15歲的孩子跟28歲的成人結婚，還有一名15歲的孩子跟年齡在“35歲到39歲之間”的成人結婚。這些婚姻都獲得了紐約法官的批准。

Globally, 88 percent of countries set 18 as the minimum marriage age, but over half allow minor girls to marry with “parental consent,” according to the World Policy Center. More than 700 million women alive today were married before 18, including some 250 million who wed before 15, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund. Most live in South Asia or sub-Saharan Africa, but as these new numbers show, too many live right here in the United States.

據世界政策中心(World Policy Center)的數據，從全球來看，88%的國家將最低結婚年齡設定在18歲，但有一半的國家允許未成年女孩在“在父母同意的情況下”結婚。據聯合國兒童基金會(United Nations Children’s Fund)的統計，逾7億在世女性在18歲前結婚，其中有大約2.5億名女性在15歲前結婚。大多數人生活在南亞或撒哈拉以南的非洲，但就像新數據顯示的那樣，在美國就有太多這樣的女性。

Marriage is a legal contract and it should be reserved for adults. The dangers of child marriage are, after all, very clear: A recent report found that child marriage “undermines girls’ health, education and economic opportunities, and increases their risk of experiencing violence.”

婚姻是一種法律契約，應該是僅針對成年人的。畢竟，童婚的危險顯而易見：最近的一份報告發現，童婚“損害女孩的健康、教育及經濟機會，增加她們遭遇暴力的風險”。

The solution is relatively simple. State legislators should eliminate the archaic legal exceptions that allow children to wed. This is the only way to end child and forced marriage in the United States.

解決方法相對比較簡單。州立法者應該清除陳舊的允許未成年人結婚的法律例外。這是在美國終結童婚及強迫婚姻的唯一方式。