Child marriage in discussion: Findings from focus groups with Syrian refugees in Jordan and Lebanon

This paper contains the results of focus groups completed in Jordan in August 2017 and in Lebanon in July 2018. The overall aim of the focus groups was to better understand how young people and parents across several different Syrian refugee communities conceptualize, perceive and experience child marriage, and to identify any protective actions which families and communities take in response to child marriage. The study includes data on child marriage and it is based on discussions resulting from a vignette on child marriage for young people, and activities for the caregivers. This paper finds that prolonged displacement has a huge impact in the increase of child marriage among Syrian community. This is mainly due to economic, social and cultural difficulties that displaced communities undergo.