This morning I attended a panel discussion on child, early and forced marriage worldwide, including the elaboration of the post -2015 development agenda.  The moderator for the panel was Mabel van Oranje, Chair of Girls Not Brides: The Global Partnership to End Child Marriage

PANELLISTS:

• Mr John Hendra, Assistant Secretary-General for Policy and Programme, UN Women
• Ms. Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, Secretary General of World YWCA and Goodwill Ambassador for the African Union’s Campaign to End Child Marriage.
• Ms Ndodeye Bassey-Obongha, Coordinator at Girls’ Power Initiative (GPI), Nigeria
• Mr. Amjad Rabi, Chief of Social Policy and Economic Analysis Section, UNICEF Nepal
• Dr. Anita Raj, Director of University of California San Diego’s Center on Gender Equity and Health and Professor in the Division of Global Public Health.

The session acknowledged the fact that Member States adopted the first every resolution on child early and forced marriage at the Human Rights Council in June of this year.  The States presenting the resolution were: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Armenia, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Belgium, Benin, Bolivia, Bosnia, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Chad, Congo, Cuba, Czech Republic, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Djibouti, DRC, Egypt, El Salvador, Eritrea, Estonia, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Equatorial Guinea, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Ghana, Guinea, Haiti, Hungary, Honduras, Iceland, Italy, Ireland, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lebanon, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Morocco, Mozambique,Maldives, Montenegro, Namibia, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Palestine, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Rwanda, Senegal, Serbia, Singapore, South Sudan, Sierra Leone, Slovakia, Slovenia, Somalia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Timor Leste, Togo, Tunisia, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom,Uganda, United States of America, Uruguay, Venezuela, Yemen, Zambia. 

You can read the resolution in English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, and Russian. HRC 24th 27/09/2013 A/HRC/RES/24/23 Strengthening efforts to prevent and eliminate child, early and forced marriage: challenges, achievements, best practices and implementation gaps

Girls not Brides is a partnership of more than 400 civil society organizations committed to ending child marriage. Girls not Brides have a particularly good website with all the necessary information on child, early and forced marriage.  Click here

See the 20 countries with the highest prevalence of child marriage:  Click here

Check out some solutions and select one to do: Click here

Has your country a minimum legal age for marriage?  What is it?  Does it facilitate early marriage?  Read more

The Theory of Change articulates what an effective response to child marriage entails.  Use this tool for discussion as to how to bring about change

Imagine – child early and forced marriage was not part of the Millennium Development Goals. The first international day of the girl was celebrated on October 11, 2012 (10.11.12)  Child early and forced marriage was part of the agenda of the first international day.  In June 2014 there was the first ever UN Resolution.  Target 5.3 of the Open Working Group – Sustainable Development Goals Outcome Document  ‘eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilations.’ In the website Girls not Brides you can see the human rights, gender equality, education, health and economic advantages to be had in eliminating these practices.