Child Marriage
Learn more about child marriage from UNICEF's Fact Sheet.
Throughout the world, marriage is celebrated as a happy event of adult life. But for children—mostly girls who have a marriage partner imposed upon them—the event marks a premature end to their childhood.
Child marriage is a harmful traditional practice and a violation of human rights. Even so, it is a fact of life for many children. In five countries of Sub-Saharan Africa and in Bangladesh, more than 60% of women were married before the age of 18. Child marriage is more common in rural settings than in urban ones, and more common in poor families than in wealthier ones. Education is critical; women with primary education are significantly less likely to be married/in union as children than those who received no education.
Child marriage hurts children
Child marriage often leads to separation from family and friends, lack of freedom to interact with peers and participate in community activities, and decreased opportunities for education and economic participation.
Because early marriage is usually tied to early pregnancy, girls married at a young age also face serious health risks—a girl under age 16 is five times more likely to die in pregnancy or childbirth than a woman between the ages of 20 to 24. In addition, childhood pregnancy leads to stunting for both mother and baby, often irreversible.
UNICEF Changing "Hearts and Minds"
UNICEF addresses this harmful traditional practice by working with government officials to change and enforce laws. More importantly, UNICEF works directly with communities, including girls, to help them change their own views. By focusing on positive messages and using local leaders, UNICEF is convincing entire communities to abandon the practice of child marriage.
For example, in Niger, which has the highest rate of child marriage in the world, girls are promised for marriage as young as age nine. In rural communities, traditional chiefs exert tremendous influence over people's daily lives, and they are key to changing social customs.
One of UNICEF's partners in southern Niger's Tibiri region is Grand Chief Abdou Bala Marafa, one of the country's most influential traditional leaders. Once Chief Marafa learned about the dangers of child marriage to girls, he agreed that it must stop. He formed the "Good Conduct Brigades," a group of specially trained men and women who travel from village to village, sharing information with residents and spreading the message about abandoning child marriage. UNICEF provided the brigades with motorcycles to ease their movement across the difficult desert terrain. This community-led approach has resulted in hundreds of communities giving up the practice of child marriage!
Congressional Action to Address Child Marriage
Though the United States supports many programs that assist children and mothers, there is no specific U.S. Government effort to focus on the problem of child marriage. Bipartisan legislation in both the House of Representatives the Senate would bolster U.S. efforts to prevent child marriage: Child Marriage Violates the Human Rights of Girls Act of 2011 (H.R. 3357) and the International Protecting Girls by Preventing Child Marriage Act (S. 414). These pieces of legislation condemn child marriage as both a human rights violation and a drag on developmental outcomes. They call for more data collection on child marriage, including an amendment to the Foreign Assistance Act that would require the State Department to include child marriage in their annual Human Rights Report.
Take Action Now
YOU CAN HELP by letting your Senators and Representatives know that you want them to cosponsor and support this legislation!
