UN Agencies Welcome African-led Push to End Child Marriage

Two United Nations agencies today welcomed the first campaign by the African Union to end child marriage， a practice that robs over 17 million girls – 1 in 3 – across the continent of their youth.

“What we are seeing today is an Africa-wide movement of leaders and organizations collectively saying ‘No to Child Marriage’，” said Martin Mogwanja， Deputy Executive Director of the UN Children’s Fund （UNICEF）.

“This push led by Africans for Africans must not stop until every girl in every family and every community has the right to reach her 18th birthday before getting married，” he added in anews release.

The campaign， launched today in the Ethiopian capital， Addis Ababa， is set to run for an initial period of two years with national launches anticipated in 10 countries.

Although civil society actors have been pressing hard on the issue of child marriage for several years， this is the first time that such a large range of government officials， organizations， UN agencies and individuals， including youth and children， are vowing to collectively end child marriage.

The UN agencies noted that since girl brides often come from the most marginalized families in African societies， strong and sustained political commitment to adopt appropriate legal， institutional， social and economic measures to keep them away from child marriage will be required.

According to the UN， more than 140 million girls worldwide will become child brides between 2011 and 2020 if current rates continue. Of these， 50 million girls will be under the age of 15.