More than 60 million girls around the world are married - often at the encouragement of their parents and to much older men - with no say in the decision to marry. If current patterns continue, more than 100 million girls in the developing world will be married during the next 10 years. These marriages occur despite the fact that national laws often prohibit it and that international human rights documents state that marriage should be entered into with the free and full consent of both partners.  The rate of child marriage varies greatly by nation and even by region within a country and is most common in sub-Saharan Africa and parts of South Asia as well as the Middle East. For example, in Ethiopia's Amhara region, about half of all girls are married by 14 years old.

Child marriage forces children to assume responsibilities and handle situations for which they are often physically and psychologically unprepared. In places where child marriage is practiced, girls rarely have any say in when and whom they marry. Once married, these young girls have little power in the relationship and limited autonomy.

For girls worldwide, child marriage can even be fatal. Child brides typically become sexually active as soon as they are married (and sometime prior to puberty), and they face enormous pressure to bear children as soon as possible. Because their bodies are not fully developed, they are at greater risk of complications in pregnancy and childbirth. These complications can result in death - in many developing countries, pregnancy is the leading cause of death for adolescent girls - or ongoing health problems, such as obstetric fistula. Most girls enter marriage with little or no information about protecting their reproductive health, including contraception, safe motherhood, and HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections.

These girls almost always marry older men with more sexual experience and history (including possible exposure to HIV or other sexually transmitted infections), and who may have other wives, or may not be faithful once married. The younger a girls' age at marriage, the greater the age difference between her and her husband. Sex in marriage is more frequent and often unprotected - in fact, the vast majority of unprotected sexual encounters among adolescent girls occur within marriage.

Girls often face a greater risk of gender-based violence. Research has also shown that married girls are more socially isolated than their unmarried peers and have limited autonomy. Child marriage removes girls from any continuing schooling opportunities, so they lose out on the myriad of benefits that come from an education.      

Links of Interest>>

Take Action: Write your Representative and Senators TODAY - your voices will help secure the right of girls everywhere to decide if, and when, and whom they marry.

Read the bipartisan OpEd from Rep. McCollum (D-MN) and Rep. Crenshaw (R-FL) published in Roll Call on July 19, 2010 on the importance of addressing child marriage. 

Minnesota Congresswoman Betty McCollum continues to speak out on the importance of preventing child marriages. Read her latest effort at drawing attention to the issue and legislation here during the Tom Lantos human Rights Commission hearing on July 15, 2010. 

Learn about the latest important developments regarding the "International Protecting Girls by Preventing Child Marriage Act" and what you can do to support the legislation and this important issue.

Read the IWHC press statement about the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission hearing and read Adrienne Germain's statement for the record submitted to the Commission.

Sign-up here to receive updates on more actions you can take to prevent child marriage and other ways to support women and young people worldwide.

Read IWHC's publication Child Marriage: Girls 14 and Younger At Risk.

Read IWHC's publication Overlooked and Uniformed:  Young Adolescents' Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights.

Check out this video from PBS NOW-"Child Brides, Stolen Lives."

Watch the Oxygen Network's documentary "The Bride Was Seven" on Oxygen (check Oxygen for local listings) that highlights programs that work to end child marriage.

Read IWHC President Adrienne Germain's blog post.   

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