A/HRC/41/19 social order (A/HRC/37/CRP.3). To prevent their daughters from marrying ISIL fighters, some families married their daughters to other males. Other families fled or sent their daughters away, unaccompanied or smuggled to other regions, where they were exposed to other risks of abuse and exploitation (A/HRC/37/CRP.3). In the Kobane refugee community in Turkey, families reported fleeing partly to protect girls from sexual violence and forced marriage to armed combatants in the Syrian Arab Republic. 12. Other communities have married off their girls with members of armed or violent groups, often under coercion, to avoid further attacks and violence (A/HRC/32/CRP.2 and A/HRC/37/CRP.3). In the Philippines, during the Marawi displacement crisis in 2017, girls married members of armed groups due to the need for economic stability. It was revealed in a 2017 needs assessment in the Philippines that, in at least 12 per cent of the sites surveyed, incidents were reported of survivors of sexual violence marrying their perpetrators in order to avoid the risk of stigmatization and rejection by their own communities and families. 14 13. In other contexts, such as in Afghanistan, child marriage is considered an internal family matter, ruled by traditions and religious codes, and is used as a tool to prevent violence between families or to strengthen relations between parents of the bride and the groom. As the national human rights institution of Afghanistan noted in its submission, it has been reported that the perpetration of a crime could result in a customary tribunal forcing the family of the defendant to marry off their girl, regardless of her age, to a man in the family of the complainant. The girl who had been forced to be married would be treated as a punished girl in the husband’s family, and would therefore be likely to be subjected to ill-treatment. 2. Economic insecurity, poverty and lack of income opportunities 14. During conflict, displacement and natural disasters, financial pressures and food insecurity may increase the prevalence of child marriage. Without reliable incomegeneration opportunities, educational opportunities, access to land or support systems, families may feel added pressure to marry off their girls in the hope that the husband and his family will provide for them. This is supposedly meant to alleviate the economic burden and to make it possible to cope with the financial challenges faced by refugees, or it can be a survival strategy in the absence of viable alternatives. In some cases, families will agree to the temporary “marriage” of their daughter in exchange for financial gains. This is also referred to as a contractual marriage, which is a form of sexual exploitation and can amount to trafficking or sexual slavery.15 15. Save the Children reported in its submission that an assessment conducted in South Sudan in 2017 found that bride dowries, in the form of cash or livestock, led desperate families to marry off their underage girls in order to improve both the girl’s and her family’s chances of survival. In north-east Nigeria, there are strong links between economic insecurity, food insecurity and child, early and forced marriage. Girls have reportedly been forced into child marriage because they could not afford school fees, food, shelter or other necessities. In northern Cameroon and in Nigeria, families facing extreme poverty in camps for internally displaced persons and refugee camps have used marriage as a way to avoid or recover family debts, because of a lack of alternatives and the breakdown of social networks. According to the International Catholic Child Bureau, parents in Cameroon receive dowry payment for their unborn or infant daughter through practices involving socalled money women. Once the girl turns seven, she joins the household of the man she is promised to, while the parents receive a dowry. If the girl objects, the dowry will have to be repaid. Moreover, refusing the marriage might lead to the girl being rejected by her family or community. As Girls Not Brides highlighted in its submission, after the Indonesian tsunami in 2004, girls were pushed to marry so-called tsunami widowers in Indonesia, India 14 15 Plan International, submission and Child Protection Rapid Assessment Report: Marawi Displacement (October 2017). See joint general recommendation No. 31 of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women/general comment No. 18 of the Committee on the Rights of the Child. 5