Of course, as the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) point out, the most vulnerable nations across the world when it comes to child marriage are Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Mozambique, Nepal, Niger, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Yemen and Zambia. These nations, as you can clearly tell, are African and Asian, and have a long traditional history of child marriages—which is the reason why the evil continues to exist here despite many drives towards increasing awareness, and even policies to curb the problem. In case you want to know more about child marriage in India, read our explainer here.
But because child marriage is such a rampant problem in Asia and Africa, many women and survivors have taken it upon themselves to fight the social problem by starting their own non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and support groups. If you want to know more about these women, read our story on activists fighting child marriage.
How The UN Fights Child Marriage
In 2016, the UNFPA joined hands with UNICEF to launch a global programme to tackle child marriage in the 12 vulnerable nations mentioned above. The UNFPA-UNICEF Global Programme to End Child Marriage is further supported by the UN General Assembly and the Human Rights Council, and the eprogramme itself conducts cutting-edge social research into the causes of this issue and how to go about resolving it. To achieve this, the UNFPA and UNICEF also support and collaborate with activists and NGOs working at the very grassroots level in these nations, including in India.
If a March 2021 report by UNICEF is to be believed, accelerating the support and growth to the UNFPA-UNICEF programme and other NGOs across the globe is critical now in the post-COVID era. The report, titled ‘COVID-19: A threat to progress against child marriage’, explains that due to the pandemic, “school closures, economic stress, service disruptions, pregnancy, and parental deaths” have left 10 million additional girls vulnerable to the risk of child marriage—bringing the count to 100 million girls at risk of child marriage in the coming decade. Supporting the UNFPA-UNICEF programme, and its collaborators across the world, should therefore be a priority for all.
NGOs Fighting Child Marriage Globally
Girls Not Brides: A global partnership of over 300 NGOs from 50 nations, Girls Not Brides is perhaps the biggest collective working against child marriage globally. Members of the organisation are spread across Africa, South Asia, Middle East, Europe and North America. Each member organisation works with girls and child brides in various communities, and conducts on-the-ground research on the issue. The research and dataare then shared across the world, where each member within this global partnership benefits from the information shared.
Breakthrough: Working predominantly in the US and India, this organisation addresses issues like violence against women, HIV/AIDS, immigrant rights and racial justice, apart from constantly supporting the fight against child marriage. In India, Breakthrough works in Bihar and Jharkhand, where it uses the power of media to inspire entire communities to shun the practice of child marriage.