The UK has announced steps to combat the rise in child marriages among Syrian refugees.

In the last 3 years, more than 100,000 Syrians have been killed in the country’s civil war. Four million have been displaced within the country and two and a half million people have fled the country.

Almost halfof the refugees are girls and women, and another quarter are boys under 18.

But although we may be familiar with casualty numbers or with images of battles and refugee camps, there is one aspect of the story that has received less attention: the child marriage of refugee girls.

Life as a refugee is tough enough: you are exiled from your home, far from loved ones and living in poverty and insecurity.

For young girls, life as a refugee can be particularly tough.

According to a recent UNICEF report, one in five Syrian girls in Jordan is forced into an early marriage.

An earlier report last June by UN Women gave an even higher figure, as it reckoned that half of Syrian refugee women and girls in Jordan had been married before the age of 18.

UNICEF figures from before the crisis state that 3 per cent of Syrian girls were married before the age of 15 while 13 per cent were married before the age of 18.

So, although there is a precedent for child marriage in Syrian culture, the UN’s recent figures would point to a significant increase in early marriage.

Why is this happening?

Part of the reason is security and the threat of sexual violence.

Three-quarters of Syria’s refugees are women and children, so many families are without male protection and find themselves vulnerable.

Mariam, for example, who was interviewed in this report by Al-Jazeera, said that marrying her daughter was a way to protect her from the rumoured rapes and kidnappings in the Za’atari camp in Jordan.

The Atlantic reported similar reasons for early marriage among Syrian refugees in Lebanon.

Another part of the reason is economics.

The extreme poverty refugee families face narrows down their options.

According to Justine Greening, the UK’s International Development secretary, male Syrian refugees have trouble finding work and supporting their families. Arranging for a young daughter to marry is one way to obtain a small dowry and to ensure that your daughter is provided for.

Refugee families without male adults are even more vulnerable.

IRIN interviewed a Syrian refugee mother in Jordan, Um Sarah, who arranged marriages for her 14 and 15 year-old daughters because she could not support them.

But the dowry obtained from a fellow refugee may be quite small.

There are reports of non-Syrians going to camps to look for brides and offering higher dowries.

And several recent articles point to a trend of sexual exploitation of young Syrian girls by foreigners, who ‘marry’ them but disappear once the marriage has been consummated.

And if he stays?

It is hard to overstate the impact that child marriage has on young girls and on their lives as women.

As well as the obvious trauma of having to marry as a child, girls are at greater risk of suffering complications in childbirth or pregnancy, which could leave them unable to have children in later life.

Child marriage is also associated with a higher risk of domestic abuse and of long-term poverty.

Earlier this month the British Government announced that it will host a Girls’ Summit to tackle the issue of forced marriage among Syrian refugee girls.

By encouraging its partners to fund programmes for unemployed Syrian male refugees, the UK hopes to decrease the economic pressures that push refugee families into marrying off their daughters as children.

The Department for International Development (DFID) also announced a £5.95million grant for Doctors of the World, to provide healthcare support, which includes specialised care for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence.

The Syrian crisis has now entered its fourth year. And for the sake of these girls – and indeed of all Syrian citizens – it must not enter a fifth.