The practice of child marriage in Malaysia enjoys a status of legality with registration of marriages involving those below 18 sanctioned explicitly and given exceptions under Islamic and civil laws. According to the 2010 Population and Housing Census, there were 152,835 persons aged 15-19 in a marriage, and unlike in some countries where the practice […]

This study focuses on the impact of child marriage and the actors that enables the practice, mainly the religious actors who uses their religious interpretations as justification. The complex interweaving of culture and religion in Indonesia further muddles the situation, enabling the larger conservative Islamic groups to preserve the law that stipulates the minimum age […]

Child, early, and forced marriage (CEFM), otherwise commonly known as “child marriage”, has been a contentious subject for many, especially in the Asia-Pacific region. All of the things CEFM represents – lack of free, full, and informed consent, limitation of bodily integrity and the enjoyment of childhood – has long been part and parcel of […]

The world is seeing a resurgence of religious extremism at national, regional, and global levels, which renews the threat to many of the rights that would be achieved and concretised such as equality of women, of citizens who belong to ethnic and religious minorities, and of sexual minorities. Amid this troubling development, ARROW has published […]

This study explores the barriers and impediments that women and girls in Bangladesh are facing that make it difficult for sexual and reproductive rights (SRR) to be realized. While the country mandates inclusion of curricula on sexuality and reproductive health (SRH) in formal and non-formal education sectors, the matter is generally weakly addressed, resulting in […]

This policy brief aims to provide an overview of the situation of sexual and reproductive rights (SRR) within Maldives and to give recommendations to relevant stakeholders based on the findings of this brief. The brief uses key indicators mentioned in the Asian-Pacific Resource and Research Center for Women (ARROW)’s publication “An Advocates’ Guide: Strategic Indicators […]

This regional profile is an effort to highlight indicators related to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and sexual and reproductive rights (SRR) across 15 countries in the region: Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam. ARROW came together with partners in these countries to promote […]

Demands to governments, non-governmental bodies, young people, and other stakeholders based on young people’s experiences in Asia.

In the Pacific region 56% of the population is under the age of 25. Pacific young people have diverse needs, opportunities and experiences, living as they do across 20,000 islands around the Pacific ocean. This dynamic group of young people live in urban and rural areas, on remote islands and in large cities. They have […]

Young people make up nearly half of the global population, with approximately 88% living in developing countries.1 The Asia-Pacific region alone accounts for 60% of the youth population, amounting to approximately 750 million persons. In Asia, young people are heterogeneous, and have come from all walks of life. They are in-school and out of school, […]