Marriage: The state of being united to a person of the opposite sex as husband or wife in a consensual and contractual relationship recognized by law (Merriam Webster Dictionary).

During the last few decades, romance comedy novels have gained a huge increase in popularity. People, especially teenagers, love reading them and imagining themselves being the main character of that novel. This is because most people find it exciting to think about what their own love story will be like. However, many children in several countries such as Niger, Chad, and Bangladesh do not have the luxury to daydream about it as they are often victims of child marriage (Birech, 2013). Child marriage can be simply defined as marriage before the age of eighteen (Birech 2013). This practice is more widespread in poor, rural areas wherein it can be seen as a way to alleviate poverty (Nnadi, 2014). It has been estimated that up to 700,000,000 girls alive today are victims of child marriage and current efforts are only enough to keep statistics at a standstill considering the rapid growth of population (Girls Not Brides, n.d.). Studies show that if efforts are not increased, 1.2 billion more girls will be victims by the year 2050 (Girls Not Brides, n.d.). It is a fact that child marriage violates basic human rights, hence more efforts must be made to stop it through methods such as providing educational services and implementing strict laws and policies.
CHILDREN FORCED TO BE ADULTS
It is believed