0:00:05 > 0:00:10These two children are under 12 years old and they are getting married.
0:00:10 > 0:00:13It's illegal, but no-one is stopping it.
0:00:14 > 0:00:18Around every three seconds, a girl under 18 gets married.
0:00:18 > 0:00:21That's ten million a year worldwide.
0:00:21 > 0:00:24This is in Central America, in Africa,
0:00:24 > 0:00:27in the Middle East and South Asia.
0:00:27 > 0:00:30It happened in my own family in Afghanistan.
0:00:30 > 0:00:37My auntie, my mother's sister, she lives in Kabul and she was married when she was 15.
0:00:37 > 0:00:40And my granny had eight kids and she was married at 12.
0:00:40 > 0:00:45And as far as I know, both of their marriages were really happy.
0:00:45 > 0:00:49'So I want to find out what it's really like to be a child bride.
0:00:52 > 0:00:57'I'm going to a wedding in India where the bride and groom are just little kids.
0:00:58 > 0:01:04'Then I'm going to Bangladesh where child brides usually marry much older men.
0:01:06 > 0:01:10'And can get pregnant within a year of getting married.
0:01:10 > 0:01:14'Getting pregnant so young can cause horrific illnesses or even death.'
0:01:14 > 0:01:17She's very beautiful.
0:01:17 > 0:01:24'But I also meet some brave young girls who have defied their families and refuse to be married off.
0:01:26 > 0:01:30'It's going to be a journey that challenges what I thought,
0:01:30 > 0:01:33'but I am going to learn the truth about child brides.'
0:01:51 > 0:01:56'A staggering 40% of the world's child marriages take place in India
0:01:56 > 0:02:01'and the desert state of Rajasthan has one of the highest rates in the country.
0:02:01 > 0:02:05'Today is Akha Teej, a lucky day for Hindus to get married,
0:02:05 > 0:02:09'and record numbers of child marriages are taking place,
0:02:09 > 0:02:16'even though there is a government campaign to stop them and police are supposed to be on high alert.
0:02:16 > 0:02:21'I have found out about a joint wedding of two sisters, both of them very young.
0:02:21 > 0:02:27'It's happening in Sawai Madhopur, a district with the most child brides in Rajasthan.'
0:02:27 > 0:02:34This is my first ever child wedding and I'm really excited to go there and see what it's actually like.
0:02:34 > 0:02:40I've heard a lot about it, I've had it in my family, but to see one will be completely different.
0:02:40 > 0:02:43But I'm also interested in speaking to the parents
0:02:43 > 0:02:48and finding out why they are so adamant on having their kids marry so young.
0:02:57 > 0:03:02'When I reach the village, I catch a glimpse of the brides before they get ready.
0:03:02 > 0:03:05'Not everyone in India has a birth certificate,
0:03:05 > 0:03:11'but family members tell me Kavita, the younger one, is about six and Pepita around 11.
0:03:13 > 0:03:19'Suddenly, the groom's party arrives and the celebrations are in full swing.'
0:03:20 > 0:03:23FAST RHYTHMIC DRUMBEAT
0:03:25 > 0:03:30'As guests dance away, the grooms patiently wait for the ceremony to begin.'
0:03:30 > 0:03:36I'm standing right here. The grooms are behind me. It's their wedding day. They're completely dolled up.
0:03:36 > 0:03:40One looks about 10, 12 years old, the other one's a teenager.
0:03:40 > 0:03:45But you get a sense that they're quietly confident. They're not fazed at all by this.
0:03:45 > 0:03:51For you, because you're so young, do you feel ready to get married? Do you want to?
0:03:53 > 0:03:59So he feels totally ready to get married right now, he understands what that means?
0:03:59 > 0:04:02So are you guys excited?
0:04:09 > 0:04:12That much, huh?
0:04:18 > 0:04:21So what are you guys most excited about then?
0:04:26 > 0:04:31He said, "The thing that I'm most excited about is meeting my lifelong sweetheart."
0:04:31 > 0:04:34Can you be romantic at nine? Is it possible?
0:04:34 > 0:04:38The younger one, he looks like my little brother.
0:04:38 > 0:04:40He's pretty much the same age.
0:04:40 > 0:04:46It's so bizarre to see him here on his wedding day with this much attention and this many people.
0:04:46 > 0:04:52But like I said, they're totally normal about it, they're completely confident.
0:04:57 > 0:05:00'As night falls, the partying carries on.
0:05:00 > 0:05:06'The atmosphere is as relaxed and happy as any other wedding
0:05:06 > 0:05:11'and it's easy to forget the brides are only about 6 and 11 years old.
0:05:11 > 0:05:18'But when I see Kavita and Pepita's innocent faces in full bridal make-up, it does feel surreal.'
0:05:19 > 0:05:22Are you excited? You're going to get married.
0:05:22 > 0:05:29They have no idea what's going on, I don't think. They're completely naive and they're just so young.
0:05:29 > 0:05:35I don't think they understand what all of this is about. Any other bride would be excited or nervous.
0:05:35 > 0:05:38But they're just totally unaware.
0:05:40 > 0:05:42CHANTING
0:05:42 > 0:05:49'It's midnight before the couples are finally seated with just the main guests who have stayed behind.
0:05:51 > 0:05:58'The younger groom struggles to stay awake. It looks like it's way past his bedtime.'
0:05:58 > 0:06:00CHANTING CONTINUES
0:06:01 > 0:06:06'Everyone watches the priest perform the marriage rites without a worry,
0:06:06 > 0:06:09'but the police do raid underage weddings
0:06:09 > 0:06:14'and they carry a fine of up to £1,300 and two years in prison.
0:06:17 > 0:06:23'Child marriages have been an accepted part of the culture here for hundreds of years,
0:06:23 > 0:06:26'but I'm still not sure what I make of it all.'
0:06:26 > 0:06:28PRIEST SPEAKS IN LOCAL LANGUAGE
0:06:34 > 0:06:37It's strange because of all the guests here,
0:06:37 > 0:06:41I'm the one thinking, "Oh, my God," but for them, it's normal.
0:06:42 > 0:06:48'The guests dance to celebrate the marriage, but I want to know what will happen to the brides next.
0:06:48 > 0:06:53'They are so much younger than the ones I have known in Afghanistan.
0:06:55 > 0:07:01'I caught up with their grandfather to try and make sense of what I had just seen.'
0:07:01 > 0:07:06Do you try to explain to them what's happening, that they're getting married?
0:07:28 > 0:07:30Do they go to their husband's house?
0:08:03 > 0:08:07How do you know they'll make good husbands when they're grown up?
0:08:27 > 0:08:33Baba, I read in the newspapers that these child marriages are against the law
0:08:33 > 0:08:36and the government doesn't approve of them.
0:09:08 > 0:09:12Speaking to the brides' grandad, it was really interesting.
0:09:12 > 0:09:18Although I thought these girls are getting married and will be shipped off to the in-laws' house,
0:09:18 > 0:09:23it doesn't work like that. They're going to be living with their parents for a long time
0:09:23 > 0:09:27before they move into the in-laws' house, so I see how that would work.
0:09:30 > 0:09:37But how do these child marriages work out when the couples finally move in together?
0:09:39 > 0:09:45Now I know that the girls don't live with their in-laws until they're about 15, 16 years old,
0:09:45 > 0:09:48it still seems like a massive weight on their shoulders
0:09:48 > 0:09:54to know, from about seven, that they'll have their whole life planned out in front of them.
0:09:54 > 0:10:00I want to meet some people that can tell me what it's like to be married at that young an age.
0:10:24 > 0:10:28Ramesh and Rukmani got married at six and seven years old.
0:10:28 > 0:10:34They finally moved in together at 15 and 16 and have been living together for ten years.
0:10:34 > 0:10:39If anyone will tell me what it's like to be in a child marriage, it'll be these two.
0:10:45 > 0:10:51'With the family photos done, I caught up with Ramesh and Rukmani back at home.'
0:10:51 > 0:10:55Do you remember knowing you were going to get married?
0:11:13 > 0:11:19After you guys finally moved in together, did you think that maybe you were too young?
0:12:08 > 0:12:13Would you ever consider marrying your children off really young?
0:12:35 > 0:12:39Having spoken to the couple, on the face of it, they seem really happy,
0:12:39 > 0:12:45but they wouldn't want the same thing for their kids and wouldn't have wanted it for themselves.
0:12:45 > 0:12:51Although it might seem like a happy marriage, it's as though they're dealing with what they have.
0:12:51 > 0:12:54Maybe that's what happened in my family.
0:12:54 > 0:12:59Maybe my grandmothers and aunties were doing the best they could in that situation.
0:13:07 > 0:13:14'Even though Rukmani gets on with Ramesh, she still feels that she missed out on the chance to study
0:13:14 > 0:13:17'which could have led to a decent job and a better life.
0:13:17 > 0:13:21'But underage marriage can be worse than that.
0:13:21 > 0:13:27'No education means no independence. You're left totally at the mercy of your husband and in-laws.
0:13:34 > 0:13:40'Mamta was married at 9 and started living with her husband at 16.
0:13:40 > 0:13:44'She relied on him for everything, so she thought she had no option
0:13:44 > 0:13:47'but to put up with his constant violence.
0:13:47 > 0:13:53'She is now back at her parents with her son and barely makes ends meet by sewing clothes.'
0:13:53 > 0:13:58When did you start feeling uncomfortable? When did it get bad for you?
0:14:12 > 0:14:15So what sort of things would he do to you?
0:14:40 > 0:14:43Why would he do it? For what reason?
0:15:28 > 0:15:32Now that all of this has happened to you, if you could go back,
0:15:32 > 0:15:36would you still get married at that young an age?
0:15:58 > 0:16:02To get married so young, to make that kind of a commitment,
0:16:02 > 0:16:06when it goes wrong, it goes really, really wrong
0:16:06 > 0:16:12and she just did not have the capacity to fight against the people that were hurting and abusing her.
0:16:12 > 0:16:15How could she? She was only a kid.
0:16:25 > 0:16:29'Girls who are married before 18 are twice as likely
0:16:29 > 0:16:35'to report being beaten, slapped or threatened by their husbands than girls who are married later.
0:16:36 > 0:16:38'But in some villages in Rajasthan,
0:16:38 > 0:16:42'there are small signs that things are getting better.
0:16:42 > 0:16:49'Young girls are starting to stand up to their parents and are bravely saying "no" to child marriages.
0:16:51 > 0:16:55'Roshan Barwa was 14 when she refused to be married off
0:16:55 > 0:17:01'and with the help of her village youth group insisted on going to high school.
0:17:01 > 0:17:05'This was a first, not just for her family, but for her whole village.'
0:17:07 > 0:17:14When your family told you that they wanted you to get married, you said "no". How did that happen?
0:17:38 > 0:17:42Have other girls followed your lead and refused child marriages as well?
0:17:58 > 0:18:01What do you want to be when you grow up?
0:18:14 > 0:18:18So what happened to the person that you were going to get married to?
0:18:20 > 0:18:22LAUGHTER
0:18:22 > 0:18:27Now that you might have a choice in who you want to marry, what are you looking for?
0:18:31 > 0:18:34'Schooling is a way out of the trap.
0:18:34 > 0:18:39'Girls who are educated are six times less likely to be child brides.
0:18:39 > 0:18:46'Roshan's generation benefits from there being more government high schools in the villages.
0:18:46 > 0:18:49'Without one nearby, she'd probably be married now.'
0:19:07 > 0:19:14'I'm in Jaipur, Rajasthan's capital city. It's only five hours' drive from Roshan's village,
0:19:14 > 0:19:20'but with all its cars, billboards and shops, I realise how much rural India is missing out
0:19:20 > 0:19:22'on the country's booming economy.
0:19:22 > 0:19:27'It's hard to imagine these Jaipur girls being married off as kids.
0:19:34 > 0:19:39'Educated and middle-class, I wanted to know what these teenagers think
0:19:39 > 0:19:42'about child marriages in villages down the road.'
0:19:42 > 0:19:45What experience of child marriages do you have?
0:19:45 > 0:19:48Actually, within a couple of kilometres
0:19:48 > 0:19:53you can see a wide difference between the urban girls and village girls.
0:19:53 > 0:19:56It's a totally different scene with rural girls.
0:19:56 > 0:20:01One of my neighbours left her work and she went to her village where she belonged to
0:20:01 > 0:20:05to get her daughter married who was just 13.
0:20:05 > 0:20:09I just said to my mum, "Was she kidding or did she mean that?"
0:20:09 > 0:20:12- You couldn't believe that? - I couldn't believe that.
0:20:12 > 0:20:18This is also a world that is existing apart from the one which I live in.
0:20:18 > 0:20:23- What age do you guys want to get married at?- Not before 25 or 26.
0:20:23 > 0:20:27Obviously, after I finish my graduation and post-graduation
0:20:27 > 0:20:31and I, you know, do something in life. Only then.
0:20:31 > 0:20:35Does it come up in conversation with your friends or family?
0:20:35 > 0:20:39In India, we have a really popular show called Balika Vadhu.
0:20:39 > 0:20:45It's really, really popular and it's based on a story of child marriage and all of that,
0:20:45 > 0:20:49so at dinner time I used to discuss about all this with my parents.
0:20:49 > 0:20:54What's really strange is that I live in London, I come from Afghanistan,
0:20:54 > 0:20:58and I'm more familiar with child marriages than you guys are
0:20:58 > 0:21:01and it's not even five hours away from where you live.
0:21:01 > 0:21:04It seems like there's two different Indias here -
0:21:04 > 0:21:09a modern, urban one where girls can make the same choices as the boys,
0:21:09 > 0:21:13but then there's the rural one in which that just doesn't happen.
0:21:18 > 0:21:24'Balika Vadhu, the soap the girls tell me about, is a ground-breaking, prime-time daily show,
0:21:24 > 0:21:30'dealing with child marriages head on, even if it is set in a fantasy Bollywood mansion.
0:21:37 > 0:21:41'On set, I caught up with the lead actress Pratyusha Banerjee
0:21:41 > 0:21:45'and the show's writer Gajra Kottary.'
0:21:45 > 0:21:49When I went to Jaipur, I met some girls who were watching your show
0:21:49 > 0:21:53and through it were being educated as to what a child marriage was.
0:21:53 > 0:21:56They were completely unaware of it.
0:21:56 > 0:21:59We have so many Indias within the country.
0:21:59 > 0:22:05We have lives which are being led so differently, you know, sort of cheek by jowl in that sense.
0:22:05 > 0:22:07And what the show has done
0:22:07 > 0:22:13is to sensitise the urban Indian girls especially to what's happening around them.
0:22:13 > 0:22:17Looking at your set and how beautiful your actresses are,
0:22:17 > 0:22:23it's hard to believe this is what a child marriage is like. In the villages, it's completely different.
0:22:23 > 0:22:27We've had people tuning in day after day for years on end.
0:22:27 > 0:22:31I don't think we'd have been able to achieve that
0:22:31 > 0:22:35if we had chosen to get very grimy and real about the whole thing,
0:22:35 > 0:22:40so I'm completely unapologetic about the fact that we have used this sugar coating.
0:22:42 > 0:22:45What's your character up to at the moment?
0:22:45 > 0:22:51My husband is liking some other girl in Mumbai because he has become a doctor right now.
0:22:51 > 0:22:55He's disowned me, he doesn't want me because he thinks I'm illiterate.
0:23:27 > 0:23:34We met somebody in Rajasthan, Mamta, and she did get married very, very young.
0:23:34 > 0:23:40She was beaten by her husband, her husband's family because she wasn't educated.
0:23:40 > 0:23:45So the show actually ends up reflecting what I've seen taking place in these villages.
0:23:45 > 0:23:49Actually, we take from real life all the time, all the time.
0:23:49 > 0:23:53I remember one particularly impactful sequence
0:23:53 > 0:24:00which was how this innocent child bride happens to give some bangles to a child widow whom she sees.
0:24:00 > 0:24:03And that creates a huge hue and cry in the village
0:24:03 > 0:24:06and the family is sort of chastised.
0:24:06 > 0:24:13Therefore, the grandmother punishes this girl by putting her into a dark, dingy storeroom
0:24:13 > 0:24:19where this girl spent a night, not knowing what crime she has committed.
0:24:25 > 0:24:27That to me embodies the fact
0:24:27 > 0:24:33that child marriage forces a child to become an adult when she is just not ready.
0:24:39 > 0:24:41SOBBING
0:24:48 > 0:24:55We went to see a child marriage and the girls weren't even ready till 20 minutes before the grooms came.
0:24:55 > 0:24:59And they got dressed up, they sat down, they were yawning,
0:24:59 > 0:25:02you know, as kids would do.
0:25:02 > 0:25:06We actually had a sequence where Jagdish, that's the groom,
0:25:06 > 0:25:08he goes to sleep, he's so tired.
0:25:08 > 0:25:13This was symbolic to the fact that these kids do not know what is happening to them,
0:25:13 > 0:25:18let alone the implications of what it means for the rest of their lives.
0:25:22 > 0:25:27Could you imagine this show being successful ten years ago even?
0:25:27 > 0:25:30Not the huge success that we have got today,
0:25:30 > 0:25:35the reason being that India is going through a huge change at every level.
0:25:35 > 0:25:41And we are much more ready today to sort of look into the mirror and figure out our flaws.
0:26:02 > 0:26:04'It might have melodrama and glamour,
0:26:04 > 0:26:11'but this show's success is proof child marriage is now openly discussed and challenged.
0:26:15 > 0:26:20'But despite all the social changes, its surging economy
0:26:20 > 0:26:26'and the slight fall in the number of child marriages, India still has a long way to go.
0:26:26 > 0:26:30'Nearly half of all the girls here get married below 18,
0:26:30 > 0:26:34'making it the 13th worst country in the world for child marriage.
0:26:38 > 0:26:42'The sad fact is child marriage is also a massive international issue
0:26:42 > 0:26:45'with even higher levels in other countries.
0:26:45 > 0:26:50'There are at least 50 million married couples around the world who are children
0:26:50 > 0:26:54'and this is set to double by the end of the decade.
0:26:54 > 0:26:59'I want to go beyond what happens in India and see if it is different
0:26:59 > 0:27:03'in countries where child marriage is an even bigger problem.'
0:27:17 > 0:27:20I'm in Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh.
0:27:20 > 0:27:24Statistically, it's the worst country in Asia for child marriages
0:27:24 > 0:27:29and one of the worst countries in the world too. I'm here to find out what makes it so bad
0:27:29 > 0:27:34and to see how different child marriages are here compared to India.
0:27:35 > 0:27:41'The first thing that hits me is that Dhaka looks so much poorer than the cities I've seen in India
0:27:41 > 0:27:45'and this must make the people here more vulnerable.
0:27:51 > 0:27:55'Two days before I arrived, the team managed to film a child marriage
0:27:55 > 0:27:59'in a village five hours away from Dhaka.
0:28:06 > 0:28:11'As female relatives rub a turmeric paste over her body to make her look radiant,
0:28:11 > 0:28:16'13-year-old Furzina silently goes along with it.
0:28:16 > 0:28:20'Child marriages are illegal in Bangladesh, too,
0:28:20 > 0:28:25'and a charity worker makes a last-minute attempt to persuade family members not to go ahead,
0:28:25 > 0:28:28'but their mind is made up.
0:28:30 > 0:28:36'Furzina is the eldest of three daughters who lost their father a year ago.
0:28:36 > 0:28:42'Financially, things are tough and there is no man in the house to protect them,
0:28:42 > 0:28:46'so the family is keen to marry her off as soon as possible.
0:28:46 > 0:28:53'The fact the groom is an adult means he's earning a regular wage and can look after his wife.
0:28:56 > 0:28:58CHANTING
0:29:00 > 0:29:04'At 13, Furzina is a bit older than the brides in Rajasthan
0:29:04 > 0:29:08'and seems to know exactly what is going on.'
0:29:10 > 0:29:14The system here is different from what I've seen in India
0:29:14 > 0:29:18because she is going to be moving in with him tomorrow
0:29:18 > 0:29:24and although in India there was a period of years before the couple started having sex,
0:29:24 > 0:29:29here it would happen as soon as possible. And it's just...
0:29:29 > 0:29:31worrying, really worrying
0:29:31 > 0:29:34because in England, you know,
0:29:34 > 0:29:38a 20-year-old man having sex with a 13-year-old girl
0:29:38 > 0:29:43it's not only disgusting, it's also illegal.
0:30:20 > 0:30:24Her lip is quivering. She looks worried, she looks anxious,
0:30:24 > 0:30:28she can't even bring herself to say, "I accept."
0:30:28 > 0:30:34She's standing next to a guy she barely knows and it's just so depressing
0:30:34 > 0:30:39because that is not how I would want to look on my wedding day.
0:30:46 > 0:30:52'Two out of every three girls in Bangladesh get married under the age of 18.
0:30:52 > 0:30:57'Even though a third of teenagers in Britain have also had sex by that age, it's not acceptable
0:30:57 > 0:31:00'within marriage like in Bangladesh.
0:31:00 > 0:31:05'It's completely normal for an adult man to marry a young girl here.
0:31:05 > 0:31:11'It's the same for my family in Afghanistan, but until now I'd never thought about
0:31:11 > 0:31:15'what life is really like for these child brides.
0:31:20 > 0:31:27'Seema is 14 years old. She got married when she was just 13 to a 19-year-old man.
0:31:27 > 0:31:34'For the last year she's been having a full-on married life, living with her husband and his whole family.'
0:34:26 > 0:34:32It would be an understatement to say that seeing the things I've seen haven't changed my opinion.
0:34:32 > 0:34:36That would just be a complete lie. When I came into this,
0:34:38 > 0:34:42I had sort of a very simplistic view of what a child marriage is
0:34:42 > 0:34:46and I'd boiled it down to a wedding day, which is fun for everyone,
0:34:46 > 0:34:50but...there's life after a child marriage, you know.
0:34:50 > 0:34:55Not a good one, not one I would want for anybody.
0:35:00 > 0:35:04'Seema's husband Shojib works as a barber.
0:35:04 > 0:35:11'At 13, he saw her as a potential wife. Men here clearly don't see young girls as we do in the West.'
0:36:48 > 0:36:52'Shojib is a bit cocky, but he's ultimately a decent guy
0:36:52 > 0:36:56'whose opinions are totally normal for people here.
0:36:56 > 0:37:03'The sad thing is I just don't think he really understands how difficult married life is for Seema.
0:37:03 > 0:37:07'Her fears just aren't taken into consideration by anyone.
0:37:23 > 0:37:28'I'm heading eight hours out of Dhaka to rural Sylhet.
0:37:29 > 0:37:34'It has one of the highest rates of mothers dying during childbirth in Bangladesh.
0:37:34 > 0:37:39'The government's massively reduced the number of maternal deaths,
0:37:39 > 0:37:43'but it still has one of the worst rates in the world.
0:37:46 > 0:37:51'Lukman gets by by selling the vegetables that he grows.
0:37:51 > 0:37:58'Too poor to educate his sister Safia further, he decided to marry her off when she was just 12.
0:37:59 > 0:38:06'By the time she was 14, she was fighting for her life giving birth to her first baby.'
0:38:06 > 0:38:11Tell me about your sister Safia and what happened to her.
0:39:57 > 0:40:03It was your decision to marry your sister off at that young an age.
0:40:22 > 0:40:29But surely you must have heard about girls dying through childbirth because of their age?
0:40:40 > 0:40:43So, tell me, after your sister passed,
0:40:43 > 0:40:47what did her husband and his family do?
0:40:57 > 0:41:03Do you think the fact that she had such a difficult labour and ultimately lost her life
0:41:03 > 0:41:07was because she was so young and her body could not cope?
0:41:19 > 0:41:23But that's because she was young. That's because she was 14 years old
0:41:23 > 0:41:29and didn't have a clue what was happening to her and these people took advantage.
0:41:38 > 0:41:41She's a pretty girl! Mashallah!
0:41:41 > 0:41:44This is all you have? One picture?
0:41:52 > 0:41:57And this is after the marriage so not long before she passed away.
0:42:02 > 0:42:04She's very beautiful.
0:42:07 > 0:42:12I mean, he was both the culprit and the victim at the same time.
0:42:12 > 0:42:14He's the one that handed her away
0:42:14 > 0:42:20and he's the one that carried her to clinic, hospital, pharmacy,
0:42:20 > 0:42:25the whole day that she was basically dying.
0:42:25 > 0:42:29And you could just feel the pain in him and see it in his eyes,
0:42:29 > 0:42:32how much he regretted what he did.
0:42:32 > 0:42:35And up until now I never saw that.
0:42:35 > 0:42:42I just didn't think that the fathers, the brothers, the uncles ever felt for what they were doing.
0:42:42 > 0:42:46But this is a guilt he has to live with for the rest of his life.
0:42:52 > 0:42:58'Even if a child bride survives early childbirth, she can still have a terrible medical condition.
0:42:58 > 0:43:03'It's called obstetric fistula and leaves you permanently incontinent.
0:43:05 > 0:43:10'If a girl's pelvis has not grown big enough for her to give birth,
0:43:10 > 0:43:16'her labour can go on for too long and cause a tear in her bladder or rectum.
0:43:18 > 0:43:24'At the country's National Fistula Centre, Dr Iffat Ara has been treating women with this illness
0:43:24 > 0:43:26'for over 20 years.
0:43:26 > 0:43:31'70,000 girls a year in Bangladesh develop this awful condition
0:43:31 > 0:43:37'and even though treatment at government hospitals is free, only a tiny number of girls
0:43:37 > 0:43:44'ever find out that they can be cured. Today, 15-year-old Jusna is finally being operated on.'
0:43:44 > 0:43:49She got married very early, at about 13 or 14 years of age.
0:43:49 > 0:43:53And then she became pregnant and had no ante-natal check-up.
0:43:53 > 0:43:59Ultimately, when the labour pains started, the traditional birth attendant was there two whole days.
0:43:59 > 0:44:03The baby died. A dead female baby was delivered.
0:44:03 > 0:44:08She started dribbling urine after seven days.
0:44:08 > 0:44:12So now she has been abandoned by her husband, she has lost her baby,
0:44:12 > 0:44:17she's with this horrible condition suffering for eight long months.
0:44:37 > 0:44:42'The surgery is complicated and can often take up to 9 hours,
0:44:42 > 0:44:47'depending on how easy it is to repair the hole in the bladder.'
0:44:57 > 0:45:00So the operation is finished.
0:45:00 > 0:45:03It was a very complicated surgery.
0:45:03 > 0:45:09Hopefully, we think that after 21 days she might be cured and she can have a better life,
0:45:09 > 0:45:13but the most important thing is that this whole process,
0:45:13 > 0:45:17this whole operation, could have been prevented
0:45:17 > 0:45:23by simply marrying at a later age. By marrying late, she would have grown a better-sized pelvis
0:45:23 > 0:45:29and, most important, so much agony and misery could have been ended by a simple C-section.
0:45:29 > 0:45:33'But preventing this illness costs money.
0:45:33 > 0:45:39'Only girls who can afford to get to a maternity hospital have any hope of a Caesarean to prevent it.
0:45:39 > 0:45:46'Worse still, in 90% of cases, the baby is usually still-born because of the long labour.
0:45:49 > 0:45:51'Kiranmala is only 15.
0:45:51 > 0:45:57'Once a hard-working schoolgirl, now her husband's abandoned her.
0:45:57 > 0:46:00'It was an uncle in Dhaka who brought her here to be treated.'
0:47:38 > 0:47:42'Jusna is in the post-operation recovery ward.
0:47:42 > 0:47:46'She has to wait three weeks to find out if she's well again.
0:47:46 > 0:47:49'She may have to have more surgery.'
0:48:43 > 0:48:47These girls don't enjoy sex, they don't do it because they want to.
0:48:47 > 0:48:52They are forced to do it. They are in this mess with no way out.
0:48:52 > 0:48:59It's just like at every given opportunity, at every impasse, their road is blocked ahead of them.
0:48:59 > 0:49:03They can't seek contraception without their husband's allowance,
0:49:03 > 0:49:07they can't expect a life where they choose not to get pregnant.
0:49:07 > 0:49:13These things are not even in their dreams. They can't even have it as an option.
0:49:18 > 0:49:22'40% of Bangladeshis live below the poverty line,
0:49:22 > 0:49:29'so the priority in many families is to get a girl married off to a man who can financially support her,
0:49:29 > 0:49:31'regardless of his age.
0:49:31 > 0:49:37'This is done as soon as possible before there is any chance of her getting a bad reputation.
0:49:41 > 0:49:45'Getting an education in the hope of a better life is a long shot
0:49:45 > 0:49:49'when even enough food isn't guaranteed.
0:49:49 > 0:49:55'The solution for some girls is getting a job in the country's booming garment industry
0:49:55 > 0:49:57'which employs over 2 million women.
0:50:02 > 0:50:06'When Munni's family tried to marry her off at the age of 12,
0:50:06 > 0:50:10'earning a wage sewing clothes gave her the strength to refuse.'
0:50:12 > 0:50:15When you said, "No!" to your family,
0:50:15 > 0:50:19what was their reaction to you standing up for yourself?
0:50:39 > 0:50:44What gave you the confidence to go against what your entire village
0:50:44 > 0:50:47and your mum and dad were saying?
0:51:05 > 0:51:08What were you afraid of about a child marriage?
0:51:34 > 0:51:38How many hours do you work and how many days in a week?
0:51:42 > 0:51:47Some people would say that that's quite a lot of hours to work since you were 13.
0:51:51 > 0:51:57What's the best bit about, you know, being an independent girl and having your own wage?
0:52:31 > 0:52:37The money you make from your work, is that enough to support you and your family?
0:52:52 > 0:53:00They want you to be independent and earn money. Before, they wanted you married off! They're on your side.
0:53:04 > 0:53:07Wow. Amazing.
0:53:07 > 0:53:11You'll have to find someone! It's going to be difficult.
0:53:20 > 0:53:23You'll find someone in Bangladesh!
0:53:23 > 0:53:26No, there's nothing to worry about.
0:53:32 > 0:53:36'Meeting Munni today was such an inspiration, a breath of fresh air
0:53:36 > 0:53:40'compared to the girls I've met so far.'
0:53:40 > 0:53:45Due to their child marriages, those girls had no expression on their faces,
0:53:45 > 0:53:50they hadn't had time to even develop personalities. But by having a job,
0:53:50 > 0:53:54Munni has been able to lift herself out of that
0:53:54 > 0:53:59and have this independence, this vivacious character that is really admirable.
0:53:59 > 0:54:07It might be difficult to imagine that a 40-hour job for a girl who has been doing it since she was 13
0:54:07 > 0:54:13is a good thing, but given the circumstances - have a job or get married -
0:54:13 > 0:54:15this is the lesser of two evils.
0:54:21 > 0:54:25'I started out this journey with an open mind
0:54:25 > 0:54:28'because I thought child marriages in my family were happy,
0:54:28 > 0:54:35'but when I asked them, every child bride I met wished she had married older.
0:54:38 > 0:54:43'The only inspiring experiences were where the girls had the courage to say no.
0:54:45 > 0:54:51'But young girls are rarely heard because it's adult men with the real power,
0:54:51 > 0:54:57'the fathers and brothers who are convinced they are doing the right thing.
0:54:57 > 0:55:01'Until the laws banning child marriages are strongly enforced,
0:55:01 > 0:55:04'young girls will remain vulnerable.'
0:55:04 > 0:55:06THEY SING
0:56:08 > 0:56:12Subtitles by Subtext for Red Bee Media Ltd - 2011
0:56:13 > 0:56:15Email subtitling@bbc.co.uk