* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Child marriage, or the marriage of individuals of which one or both is under 18, is a widespread human rights abuse, a severe challenge to social and economic development, and a global scourge that impacts more than 14 million girls under 18 every year. Once married, child brides are less likely to go to school, more likely to be beaten, coerced into sex, infected by sexually-transmitted infections like HIV, and more often than not, destined to live a life of domestic servitude.
As the evidence base grows with regard to the severe social, economic, health and human rights consequences of this practice—which spans from the USA to Europe, Asia to Africa, with highest rates across West Africa and South Asia—more governments, including the United States of America, are taking notice. Last year, the State Department included child marriage as a reporting requirement in its annual human rights reports, paving the way for the issue to be leveraged in bilateral diplomatic efforts. Also last year, the US development agency, USAID, published a vision for action that importantly outlined not only the efforts necessary to prevent the practice, but also the imperative to seek out and meet the needs of married girls, one of the hardest populations for aid workers to reach. Then, earlier this year, the U.S. Congress took an unprecedented step forward by passing legislation mandating the Secretary of State to develop a national strategy outlining how the U.S. will respond to this global blight. And in her Senate confirmation hearing last week, Cathy Russell, President Obama’s nominee to lead the State Department’s global women’s issues office, affirmed her commitment to pushing this agenda forward.
So what’s next? How do we translate the promising trends among US policymakers into tangible results for the world’s most vulnerable girls?
Everything hinges upon the content of the mandated strategy, and the solid implementation thereof. On the policy side, the strategy must take into account the evidence of what works to prevent child marriage and how to best meet the needs of married girls: empower girls, keep them in school, leverage effective health interventions, help communities understand and embrace the value of a girl and the harms and risks of early and forced marriage. On the implementation side, dollars count. As we find ourselves in the height of Congress’s frenetic appropriations process, it is going to take much more than rhetorical commitments to make changes in the lives of the 39,000 girls who will be married each day over the next decade if present trends continue.
As such, I am joining with other activists, experts, donors and Pulitzer Prize photographer Stephanie Sinclair to raise awareness about the how—how with the right approach, the US can change the game for girls the world over, opening opportunities for them to live healthy, happy and productive lives with their dignity and childhood intact.
This week, we’re bringing stirring photos, expert testimony and activist energy to the nation’s capital as policymakers dole out the dollars in support of national priorities. Starting tomorrow through Thursday, Ms. Sinclair’s haunting photos will be on display in the Senate’s Russell Rotunda, free and open to the public. The images tell the incredible stories of the many girls around the world who are Too Young To Wed, and will be a poignant reminder to the policymakers who walk these marble halls of their very existence—something which was, for too long, entirely overlooked. On the final day of the exhibit, leading experts and activists will come together in an expert briefing to discuss their firsthand experience with evidence-based, effective solutions that can point the way forward for a US strategy on child marriage. I hope you’ll join us on Thursday, July 25th at 9:00 a.m. in Room 485 of the Russell Senate Office Building to promote the rights, health, dignity and opportunity of married and at-risk girls.
With the solemn faces of child brides from India, Yemen, Afghanistan, Nepal and Ethiopia looking on, I’m hopeful that this year’s appropriations process will finally give the needed push to policymakers looking for an opportunity to truly change the world.
The exhibit is sponsored by partners UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund and VII Agency. The briefing and reception are made possible by the United Nations Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and Girls Not Brides: The US Partnership to End Child Marriage. The Too Young to Wed campaign officially opened on October 11, 2012, the first International Day of the Girl Child, at UN Headquarters in New York City, with remarks by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, UNFPA Executive Director Babatunde Osotimehin, former UN Women Executive Director Michelle Bachelet, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu of The Elders.
