One in every three women and girls also said they were
victims of domestic violence
KUALA LUMPUR, May 4 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - More
than half of Rohingya Muslim girls who fled violence in western Myanmar ended
up becoming child brides, according to a United Nations survey that also showed
widespread domestic abuse.
Since 2012, violence and communal clashes in Myanmar's
Rakhine state have forced more than 168,000 of the ethnic Muslim Rohingya
minorities to flee, including a rising number of women and girls, according to
the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR.
In a survey of 85 Rohingya women and girls who have fled
to India, Malaysia and Indonesia, UNHCR found about 60 percent married before
the age of 18. The average age that they gave birth to their first child was
18.
One in every three women and girls also said they were
victims of domestic violence, according to UNHCR's 2016 Report on Mixed
Movements in Southeast Asia.
"We generally counsel them about their options and,
if they agree, refer them to a partner or shelter that cares for vulnerable
women," UNHCR Asia spokeswoman Vivian Tan told the Thomson Reuters
Foundation.
The growing number of Rohingya women and girls fleeing
persecution in Buddhist-majority Myanmar has raised concern that they may be
vulnerable to human trafficking, sexual exploitation and child marriage,
activists say.
UNHCR said the interviews with the 85 women in its latest
report were to assess "continuing vulnerabilities" they face.
There are about 8,000 Rohingya women and girls aged
between 14 and 34 in India, Indonesia and Malaysia - the countries where the study
was carried out late last year.
The findings showed while the majority of the Rohingya
girls in India said they chose their husbands, 76 percent in Malaysia said
their marriage was arranged by families or brokers, giving rise to fears of
human trafficking.
Rights groups said they have seen an increase in the
number of child brides among Rohingya refugees as violence in Rakhine worsened,
with human traffickers selling girls to Rohingya men as brides.
As Rohingya refugees are denied formal employment in many
of the host countries, only 7 percent of the women polled said they were
earning an income, even though two-thirds said they desired their own income.
The plight of the Rohingya hit international headlines
again in recent months after Myanmar security forces were accused of carrying
out mass killings and gang rapes during their campaign against Rohingya
insurgents. The military has denied the accusations.