Child Marriage Reduced by Millions Globally
Around the world there have been three million fewer child brides over the last two years.
The news came from the The Hague on 1st April 2019, where Her Royal Highness Princess Mabel of Orange-Nassau, chairwoman of Girls Not Brides International, received the interim results of the Netherland’s Stop Child Marriage Alliances. However, the results show that despite recent success, a great deal of work still remains to combat child marriage worldwide.
Her Royal Highness received the interim results together with Mette Gonggrijp, Ambassador for Women’s Rights and Gender Equality at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The report shows that in the last two years the number of child brides has reduced from 15 million to 12 million, partly thanks to Dutch efforts.
The Alliance presented the interim results during “Celebrating Girls Voices” in the Children’s Book Museum in The Hague. At the meeting, the partner NGOs and research bodies shared the results and learning they have achieved in the first half of the five-year project.
Child Marriage: Quick Facts
- Worldwide, a female minor is married off almost every two seconds.
- Every seven seconds a girl younger than fifteen is married off.
- That means twelve million girls a year are child brides.
- This means that on average there are 33,000 child marriages per day.
- Over 100 million girls worldwide are expected to be married off in the next ten years.
The Dutch Child Marriage Alliances
The Stop Child Marriage Alliances are: More than Brides Alliance, Her Choice and Yes I Do. They work in partnership with the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a 5-year program (2016-2020) in 17 countries to fight child marriages.
Her Choice: Children’s Stamps Foundation, The Hunger Project, International Child Development Initiatives, University of Amsterdam.
Yes I Do: Plan International Netherlands, Rutgers, Amref Flying Doctors, CHOICE for Youth and Sexuality, KIT Royal Tropical Institute.
More Than Brides: Save the Children the Netherlands, Simavi, Oxfam Novib, the Population Council.
Fore more information: Charlotte Smit, Plan International: 06-8161-9414 or charlotte.smit@plannederland.nl