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| Soon-to-be-wed Faiz Mohammed, 40, and Gulam Haider, 11, at her home in a rural village in Afghanistan. Image© Stephanie Sinclair/Tooyoungtowed.org |
Washington: The United Nations on Thursday
marked the first International Day of the Girl Child by
calling for an end to child marriage, and stressing education as one of the
best strategies for protecting girls against this harmful practice.
“Education for girls
is one of the best strategies for protecting girls against child marriag,”
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in his message for the Day.
“When they are able to stay in school and
avoid being married early, girls can build a foundation for a better life for
themselves and their families,” he added.
“Let us do our part to
let girls be girls, not brides,” he stated, urging governments, community and
religious leaders, civil society, the private sector, and families – especially
men and boys – to promote the rights of girls.
The International Day of the Girl
Child was designated as 11 October by a resolution adopted by the UN
General Assembly in December 2011, to recognize girls’ rights and highlight the
unique challenges girls face worldwide. The theme of this year’s observance is
‘Ending Child Marriage.’
Approximately 70
million young women today were married before age 18, according to the UN,
which notes that child marriage denies a girl her childhood, disrupts her
education, limits her opportunities, increases her risk of being a victim of
violence and abuse, and jeopardizes her health.
Girls with low levels
of schooling are more likely to be married early, and child marriage has been
shown to almost always end a girl’s education, the world body adds. Conversely,
girls with secondary schooling are up to six times less likely to marry as
children, making education one of the most effective ways of combating child
marriage.
If current trends
continue, the number of girl child marriages will increase dramatically over
the next 10 years, according to Marrying too Young: End
Child Marriage, a new report released today by the UN Population
Fund (UNFPA). It also finds
that, despite laws to prevent its practice, child marriage has remained mostly
constant in developing countries in the past decade.
The report calls on
governments and leaders to end child marriage by: enacting and enforcing
national laws that raise the age of marriage to 18, for both girls and boys;
using data to identify and target geographic “hotspots,” which have high
numbers of girls at risk of child marriage; expanding prevention programmes
that empower girls at risk of child marriage and address the root causes
underlying the practice; and mitigating the harmful impact of child marriage on
girls.
Also to mark the Day,
the UN International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
and its partners have launched the Tech Needs Girls
Prize to inspire more girls to embrace technology and spark creativity.