* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Today, June 16th, is the Day of the African Child, the theme of which this 25th anniversary marks the African Union’s efforts to end child marriage on the continent. A talented group of young activists is using today’s celebrations to call on the leaders of their countries to end this grave human rights abuse that affects an estimated 15 million girls annually. Indeed, Africa is home to 15 of the 20 countries with the highest rates of child marriage in the world.
In a twitter chat this morning with UN and civil society leaders, activists called for simple, effective solutions: keep girls in school; Teach young people about their rights, their health;. Make laws that protect girls and boys from marrying as children; and then enforce those laws.
I got to know this incredible group of young people only very recently, when I had the pleasure of facilitating an advocacy training for them under the auspices of the Commonwealth Youth and Gender Equality Network, or CYGEN. Together, they are 39 of advocates ages under 30 representing the 53 Commonwealth nations of the world, each of whom is actively working on any number of human rights and justice issues in their home countries. These issues run the gambit, from running suicide hotlines and support groups for LGBTQI youth in London, empowering girls to contribute to sustainable peace and security in Pakistan, campaigning to delay marriage and keep girls in school in Cameroon, and promoting sexual and reproductive rights for young people in Sri Lanka.
Together, over the course of a week, the advocates paused the important work they were doing back home to formulate a joint policy agenda they will present to their heads of government when they meet in November. The Communique that came out of this process is nothing short of vanguard, uniting strong human rights principles across issues from child marriage, to sexual and reproductive health and rights, to governance, to sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sexual characteristics. Young people know that you cannot isolate rights—they call for a world in which government leaders respect, protect and promote all rights equally and faithfully.
On this 25th anniversary of the Day of the African Child, CYGEN leaders are calling for a comprehensive and rights-based vision of what we know it will take to end this practice: safe, free, quality, compulsory secondary education for girls, in schools with the courage to utilize a solid curriculum that teaches boys and girls about their bodies, their rights and the opportunities they can aspire to embrace in life. They want their countries to pass and enforce strong laws that protect girls and boys from marrying before the internationally-agreed age of majority, 18, without exceptions. Moreover, they want proactive, progressive policies that outline the steps government ministries will take—from health, to finance, to education, to justice—to ensure that young people of all genders are able to grow to be healthy, happy, educated young adults free to choose if, when and whom to marry.
These recommendations are incredibly important, as six of the world’s top twenty highest prevalence countries are Commonwealth members.
There’s far to go on the road to November’s Heads of Government Meeting—we’ll have adopted the world’s next development goals, for instance—but with these young advocates at the helm, I have every confidence that there will be many moments of success, small and large, along the way. Today’s twitter conference drew participation from high-ranking UN officials, diplomats and several of the world’s leading development organizations, so I can only imagine what’s in store in the days ahead.
