“Our goal is to end child marriage in one generation. If we can keep this generation of girls out of marriage before age 18, we can be pretty sure that they will make sure that their daughters do not marry young either”, said Mabel van Oranje, Board Chair of Girls Not Brides in a meeting with Norwegian NGOs to discuss the serious issue of child marriage. Global Coordinator of Girls Not Brides, Lakshmi Sundaram and Van Oranje would like to increase cooperation with NRC and other Norwegian organisations to raise awareness and help for children who are victims of child marriage.
The discussion held at NRC’s head office, aimed to share information and knowledge about how various organisations are working on the issue and how they can work together in preventing child marriages around the world.
Seeking to end child marriage
Child marriage is a traditional practice that denies 14 million girls a year their rights to health, education and protection. Every two seconds, a girl below the age of 18 is married, with little if any say in the decision. Child marriage holds girls back and keeps their communities poor, according to Girls Not Brides.
Girls Not Brides is a global partnership of more than 300 civil society organizations from around the world seeking to end child marriage. Since 2011 the partnership has worked to give a voice to girls at risk of child marriage, to defend their rights to health and education, and to give them the opportunities they need to fulfill their potential. Girls Not Brides also aims to support children who are or have been victims of child marriage, to increase awareness of the scale and impact of child marriage, and to mobilize the support and resources needed to end child marriage.
“It is crucial to teach the girls how to get an income and to teach them the legislation concerning child marriage. They can actually say no to this, they can actually work to improve the family economy so that they are considered less of a burden to their families and are less likely to be married early”, said Christina Milsom, education adviser for the Strømme Foundation, at the Meeting.
An obstacle in educating girls
NRC is particularly faced with the issue of child marriage in the education sector. In many countries, child marriage is an obstacle to girls completing their education. Statistics show that education does contribute to preventing child marriage. Educated young women will mostly not subject their daughters to child marriages.
“But the issue must be approached through educating boys and men as well”, noted Eric Demers, Head of Core Competencies section at NRC.
According to Girls Not Brides one of the main driving factors behind child marriage is tradition and not religion as many may think. Child marriage happens in many communities because that is the way things have always been. If a family refuses to give their child away in marriage, they can be considered outcasts among the rest of the society and the chances of finding a future husband for their daughters will decrease sharply.
“Change will require civil society putting pressure on governments and global institutions to pay more attention to this harmful practice, which has held back progress on 6 of the 8 Millennium Development Goals. There are many different ways in which we can work together. But ultimately, change needs to happen in the community – and that can only happen in a respectful way” van Oranje says.
Norwegian NGOs met with Board Chair and Global Coordinator of Girls Not Brides to discuss the important issue of child marriage. Siri Elverland Thematic Adviser Gender and Protection NRC, Phyllis Horea Senior Advisor Plan Norway, Lakshmi Sundaram Global Coordinator for Girls Not Brides, Eric Demers Head of Core Competencies section at NRC, Mabel van Oranje Board Chair of Girls Not Brides, Benedicte Giæver Director of Expert Deployment/NORCAP, Christina Milsom Education Adviser for Strømme Foundation.