French newspaper claims climate change is fueling child marriages, including girls as young as 12

A French newspaper claimed Tuesday that climate change is accelerating child marriages in developing countries, including among girls as young as 12, citing research suggesting that natural disasters are pushing impoverished families to marry off their daughters at increasingly younger ages.

Le Parisien’s report, headlined “She was only 12: Climate change, a new accelerator of child marriage,” directly linked weather-related disasters to early marriages in Bangladesh, Kenya and other countries.

“In Bangladesh, Kenya and elsewhere, climate disasters are worsening child marriages,” the newspaper said in a passage translated from French. “By destroying incomes and homes, they push some families to marry off their daughters at increasingly younger ages.”

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The article drew criticism from Moms for Liberty CEO and co-founder Tina Descovich, who told Fox News Digital that attributing child marriage to climate change shifts responsibility away from those exploiting children.

“Blaming climate change for the abhorrent practice of marrying off girls as young as 12 sounds absolutely wild… but it’s just the latest absurd excuse for disgusting behavior, shifting responsibility onto the environment instead of the people and ideologies that choose to exploit children,” Descovich said.

“At Moms for Liberty, we see this same mentality every day in America, where activists blame society, systems, or external factors for harming kids rather than demanding strong families, parental rights, and personal accountability that actually protect our children,” she continued.

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The French newspaper based much of its reporting on Plan International’s 2026 report, which examined the relationship between climate-related disasters and child marriage.

Researchers surveyed 5,000 girls and young women across Bangladesh, Kenya, Peru, Senegal and Zimbabwe. According to Le Parisien, 36% reported observing increased child marriage following climate-related disasters, while 11% said they had personally experienced child marriage.

Fox News Digital reached out to Le Parisien and Plan International for comment, but did not immediately receive a response.

The newspaper highlighted the case of a 12-year-old Bangladeshi girl who was reportedly married off four days after boys harassed her inside a cyclone shelter. According to a teenage friend interviewed by the outlet, the girl later gave birth to a baby who died, leaving her with serious health complications.

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Another case involved Runa, a 15-year-old Bangladeshi girl whose widowed mother arranged her marriage after a cyclone destroyed a family’s livestock and income.

Runa described how the marriage interrupted her education during a July interview with Australia’s ABC News.

“I did not want to get married,” Runa said. “I wanted to continue my education. The decision made me feel very sad and helpless.” 

However, Runa was eventually allowed to return to school with assistance from aid organizations after her husband’s family agreed to let her resume her education, according to ABC News. Now 17 and a mother, Runa said returning to her studies had given her renewed hope for the future.

Child marriage was already widespread in Bangladesh before the latest report. According to UNICEF’s 2025 survey, 47.2% of women ages 20 to 24 were married before turning 18, down from 51.4% in 2019.

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UNICEF identifies poverty, entrenched gender norms, harmful traditional practices, barriers to education and climate-related disasters among the factors contributing to child marriage.

Bangladesh’s 2017 Child Marriage Restraint Act generally prohibits marriage for girls younger than 18, although the law includes an exception allowing underage marriages with parental consent and court approval under special circumstances.

Plan International maintains that climate-related disasters created additional financial pressures on families, particularly those dependent on agriculture and livestock. Tanushree Soni, a Plan International representative, previously explained the economic circumstances behind child marriages during an interview with ABC News.

“Financial stress is the trigger,” Soni said. “The families look to lessen the burden because they don’t consider girls to be part of their own families.”

The research describes a relationship between weather-related disasters and child marriage, although the survey findings alone do not establish that human-caused climate change directly caused the individual marriages described in the newspaper’s report.