By Pari Trivedi for the Indian Express. 

‘Marry before your house is swept away’ is what young girls are being advised in Bangladesh, according to a report by Human Rights Watch published in June this year.

“Whatever land my father had… the house he had, went under water in the river erosion and that’s why my parents decided to get me married,” says Sultana M, who was married at age 14, in her testimony to Human Rights Watch.

The report suggests that the high occurrence of natural disasters caused by climate change is one of the key reasons for the child marriage ‘epidemic’ in the country.