Child Marriage

The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee in a unanimous vote on Sept. 21 sent the "International Protecting Girls by Preventing Child Marriage Act" to the full Senate for consideration, a move that represents significant momentum on the legislation.

The bill, which enjoys broad bipartisan support, is based in part on a decade of research by the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW). Its endorsement comes on the heels of a column by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and former Brazilian President Fernando H. Cardoso as well as the launch of a new child marriage initiative by The Elders, an independent group of world leaders brought together by Nelson Mandela. ICRW supports their effort.

Meanwhile, President Bill Clinton this week addressed the issue of child marriage during a video interview (see 3:27 mark) at the annual Clinton Global Initiative.

Sponsored by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), the legislation aims to bolster the U.S. government’s role in curbing the harmful practice of forced child marriage. It also would require the U.S. State Department to report on child marriage in its annual human rights report and authorize the government to integrate prevention efforts into existing development programs.

“When enacted, this legislation will mark a turning point in how girls are valued,” ICRW President Sarah Degnan Kambou said. “The U.S. Congress will illustrate to the world that it recognizes the important role of girls in a society.”

ICRW is among several organizations that are advocating for the child marriage prevention bill, including CARE, the International Women’s Health Coalition and PLAN USA, among others.

“ICRW applauds lead sponsors Sens. Durbin and Snowe for championing the bill, and the members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for making adolescent girls a priority of U.S. development efforts,” Kambou said.

Gillian Gaynair is ICRW’s writer/editor. Senior Advocacy Specialist Dan Martin contributed to this report.

Girls around the world continue to be undervalued, which helps fuel the practice of forced child marriage in many developing countries, the International Center for Research on Women’s (ICRW) Anju Malhotra told members of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission during a July 15 hearing.

Read Malhotra's testimony (PDF) »

Malhotra, vice president of research, innovation and impact, asserted that solutions to the issue of forced child marriage must come from empowering girls. And research shows that ways to end the practice already exist, she said. They include strengthening girls’ educational opportunities, showing communities and families the value of educating girls, and empowering girls with life skills.

Now, Malhotra said, it’s necessary to “scale up the solutions.”

Malhotra addressed several legislators during the standing-room-only hearing, including Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) and co-chairman of the commission, Rep. Jim McGovern, (D-Mass.). It was the third time in less than a year that an ICRW expert has been invited to testify before U.S. legislators.

Other panelists at the hearing also emphasized that efforts to end forced child marriage need to focus on the lives of young girls. Any strategy to do so “must be an effort to increase the value of the girl-child in her community,” said Melanne Verveer, the U.S. ambassador-at-large for global women’s issues. Verveer and others stressed that a key step to addressing forced child marriage is passing the International Protecting Girls by Preventing Child Marriage Act.

By endorsing the legislation, Malhotra said the U.S. can support efforts to significantly reduce the rate of early marriages in the next few years. And with fewer child brides, foreign investments to, for instance, prevent HIV or reduce maternal mortality rates, are less likely to be undermined.

At the close of the testimonies, McGovern thanked panelists for a productive hearing.

“I end this hearing not in despair,” he said, “but with hope.”

Grace Lamb-Atkinson is a communications intern at ICRW.

In many corners of the developing world girls as young as 8 are forced to marry, robbing them of their childhood. Instead of playing with friends, dreaming about a career or fretting over a school test, they are thrust into the full burden of domestic responsibility, motherhood and sexual relations.

If current trends continue, 25,000 to 35,000 girls every day will become brides over the next decade.

However, experts at the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) say forced child marriage can be eradicated in the next few years.

The potential solutions to end the practice will be part of what ICRW’s Anju Malhotra, vice president of research, innovation and impact, will address during a Thursday hearing before a U.S. human rights commission on Capitol Hill. Malhotra’s testimony will be followed by a special celebration to launch ICRW’s latest publication, Girls’ Speak: A New Voice in Global Development. The report showcases girls’ voices, aspirations and their ideas for ways to improve their lives.