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On International Day of the Girl, Celebrating Progress in Ending Child Marriage

© 2008 Phil Borges/CARE
© 2008 Phil Borges/CARE

ATLANTA (October 11, 2012) – On behalf of the more than 10,000 people who signed CARE’s petition asking Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for increased political and financial commitments to end child marriage, the global poverty-fighting organization thanked her today for taking a first step through new U.S. government initiatives.

Secretary Clinton unveiled the initiatives to combat early marriage and promote girls education Wednesday with top leaders, including South African Archbishop and founder of The Elders Desmond Tutu. The announcement came on the eve of today’s International Day of the Girl, the United Nation’s first day dedicated to raising awareness about the challenges girls and adolescents face.

In honor of the day, CARE, along with other partners in the Girls Not Brides global partnership, has engaged in a month-long online and social campaign to end child marriage. CARE has collected more than 10,000 signatures asking Clinton to increase political and financial commitments to end child marriage and support married adolescents. CARE will also be holding events around the world to promote solidarity with girls, people and communities who struggle with extreme poverty and injustices such as child marriage.

When it comes to marriage, girls shouldn’t be the ones taking vows. You and I should.

Helen Gayle

“When it comes to marriage, girls shouldn’t be the ones taking vows,” said Helene Gayle, president and CEO of CARE.You and I should. On the first-ever International Day of the Girl, let’s vow to end child marriage together.”

By 2030, there will be an estimated 15.1 million child brides marrying each year, up from 14.2 million in 2010, according to a report from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) released today. In many of the world’s poorest countries, girls are more likely to marry before the age of 18 than finish secondary school.

The ripple effects of child marriage are devastating for the girls and their communities. Child brides are twice as likely to be beaten by their husbands and contract diseases such as HIV from often much-older men. These girls also have a significantly higher risk of dying during pregnancy and childbirth than women in their 20s. Child marriage drastically reduces the number of girls receiving education in developing countries — ultimately preventing girls and women from lifting themselves and their communities out of poverty.

Around the world, CARE has programs that work with families, communities and local organizations to reduce the prevalence of child marriage, and mitigate its harmful effects. In addition, CARE works with communities to help eradicate the practice, by helping change local laws and building the capacity of communities to change social norms.

Clinton’s announcement highlighted changes to the State Department’s annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practice. Beginning this year, these reports — submitted every year to Congress — will track every country’s legal minimum age of marriage and the rate of marriage for girls and boys under age 18.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) will also embark on a pilot program in Bangladesh to test approaches to address the issue of child marriage based on issues such as health care, education, and legal rights. The program will also gather together religious authorities, media, local governments and NGOs to promote community sensitization to the issue.

“…We have refocused it [child marriage and girls education] and elevated it to be one of the primary commitments within our overall decision that girls and women have to be at the heart of our foreign policy,” Clinton said.

At the event, the Ford Foundation also announced they will launch a five year, $25 million commitment to work with NGOs, governments, local communities and other funders to build the political will necessary to end child marriage and to support new research to determine successful interventions. The foundation will aim to expand girls’ access to resources and rights, including the right not to marry early. The foundation will focus on child marriage in Southern and West Africa, Central America, India and Egypt.

While the event marked progress in efforts to raise awareness about child marriage, these steps are just the beginning of the fight to end the widespread practice.

Media Contacts: Washington, D.C.: Stephanie Chen, CARE, schen@care.org, 1.202.5959.2824, 1.404.735.0871
Atlanta: Nicole Harris, CARE, nharris@care.org, 1.404.979.9503, 1.404.735.0871

Resources

Tackling the Taboo (English)

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Child, Early, and Forced Marriage: CARE’s Global Experience (Arabic)

Each year, 12 million girls are married before the age of 18, marking the start of their lives as wives and mothers well before they are...

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Child, Early, and Forced Marriage: CARE’s Global Experience (French)

Each year, 12 million girls are married before the age of 18, marking the start of their lives as wives and mothers well before they are...

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Child, Early, and Forced Marriage: CARE’s Global Experience (Spanish)

Each year, 12 million girls are married before the age of 18, marking the start of their lives as wives and mothers well before they are...

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On International Day of the Girl, Celebrating Progress in Ending Child Marriage

ATLANTA (October 11, 2012) - On behalf of the more than 10,000 people who signed CARE's petition asking Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for increased political and financial commitments to end child marriage, the global poverty-fighting organization thanked her today for taking a first step through new U.S. government initiatives.Secretary Clinton unveiled the initiatives to

Read More

On International Day of the Girl, Celebrating Progress in Ending Child Marriage

ATLANTA (October 11, 2012) - On behalf of the more than 10,000 people who signed CARE's petition asking Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for increased political and financial commitments to end child marriage, the global poverty-fighting organization thanked her today for taking a first step through new U.S. government initiatives.Secretary Clinton unveiled the initiatives to

Read More

Tipping Point Community Participatory Analysis

Findings from CARE’s Tipping Point Project Community Participatory Analysis Study, which was designed to deepen understanding of the contextual factors and root causes driving the prevalence of child marriage in particular regions of Nepal and Bangladesh, countries with some of the highest rates of child marriage in the world.

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Child, Early and Forced Marriage and the Control of Sexuality and Reproduction

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Addressing Child Marriage in Nepal through Behavior Change Communication and Social Mobilization

The goal of the Chunauti (which means “challenge” in Nepali) project, which was supported by USAID and implemented by CARE, was to...

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TESFA: Improving The Live of Adolescent Girls in Ethiopia

This 16 page evaluation showcases the final results of the groundbreaking program designed and implemented by CARE Ethiopia and and evaluated by the International Center for Research on Women. The program, named Towards Economic and Sexual Reproductive Health Outcomes for Adolescent Girls, or TESFA, impacted the lives of 5,000 child brides.

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Guidance for GBV Monitoring and Mitigation in Non-GBV Sectoral Programming

This document aims to address the increasing demand for clear guidance on how to practically and ethically monitor and mitigate gender-based violence (GBV) within non-emergency, international development programming, in which GBV is not a specific programmatic component. Specifically, it draws on existing GBV-related guidance, as well as input from a group of experts, to provide recommendations for preventing and/or responding to unintentional risk, threat, or violence against individuals related to programmatic interventions. These recommendations describe ways to take stock of the programmatic environment with regard to GBV in general, as well as targeted suggestions on how to track GBV-related incidents and issues throughout the program cycle.

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Tipping Point Program Summary

4 page brief that describes CARE's child marriage prevention programming in Bangladesh and Nepal, including our focus on underlying...

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CI position on Child Marriage for the Girl Summit

CARE's policy recommendations to global governments and civil society organizations on how to end child marriage, prepared for the 2014...

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Child Marriage Brief

CHILD MARRIAGE: Complicated Problem, Simple Solution Value Girls.

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TESFA Photovoice

Married adolescents who were in TESFA took photos to show us what changed in their lives.  Take a look and see this program through...

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TESFA Brief

TESFA is a 3 year project funded by the Nike Foundation that works to improve economic, and sexual and reproductive health outcomes for...

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Child Marriage Factsheet 2014

Digging Up the Roots to Replant the Future. This one page fact sheet shows key statistics about child marriage globally, and in...

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Tipping Point Year One

The Tipping Point initiative is addressing child marriage through a dynamic process of innovation, insight (analysis and learning), and...

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Girl Declaration

CARE is a signatory to Girl Declaration and helped with its development.

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A CARE Program to End Child Marriage

Poverty is one of the reasons families give their daughters to be married at an early age. I was almost one of those child brides.

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Child Marriage: A Promise of Poverty

Not every marriage lasts forever, but early marriage has lifelong consequences for girls.

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“Maybe Someday, But Not Today”

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Ending Child Marriage in Ethiopia

This 2 page brief from 2008 describes CARE Ethiopia's Healthy Unions Program.

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Child Marriage: Questions and Answers

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Child Marriage: A Promise of Poverty

Not every marriage lasts forever, but early marriage has lifelong consequences for girls.

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