Just Married
In the last minute, 22 girls under the age of 18 were just married
Just this last year, 12 million girls’ childhoods, dreams, and educations were cut short. This is unjust. All children are made in God’s image and are worthy of dignity, respect, and opportunities to thrive. It’s time to protect and empower girls everywhere. It’s time for justice. It’s time to end child marriage now.
Call on governments to ban child marriage, implement existing laws, and fund services to prevent and respond to child marriage. Take action now and sign the petition today.
It’s time to end child marriage
Unless we accelerate our efforts to end child marriage, over 100 million more girls will be married in the next 10 years. Due to the secondary impacts of COVID-19, this number will likely be much higher. Child marriage is a human rights abuse that keeps girls from living into their God-given potential.
Child marriage is a formal or informal union where one or both parties are under 18. It impacts girls across countries, cultures, and religions. Worldwide, one in five women aged 20 to 24 were married as children.
The reasons that child marriages occur are varied. Poverty, inadequate enforcement of laws, and harmful social norms and practices all play a role, but gender inequality is at their root.
Empowering women as agents of change and experts on their own lives is crucial to ending child marriage. The key to change isn’t by finding someone to blame — it’s working with communities where the practice is common and walking alongside girls and women, listening to their voices and championing their cause to those in power.
Join us in advocating for greater protections against child marriage and other forms of gender-based violence, as well as equal access to quality education.
God calls us to loose the chains of injustice (see Isaiah 58:6) — let’s do so by speaking out against child marriage. Pray with us for those affected. Stand with us in support of policies and laws that give children the power to determine the outcomes of their own lives. It’s time for justice. It’s time to end child marriage now.
Call on governments to ban child marriage, implement existing laws, and fund services to prevent and respond to child marriage. Take action now and sign the petition today.
Fighting Child Marriage
End Child Marriage
Join with us to call on governments to ban child marriage, implement existing laws, and fund services to prevent and respond to child marriage.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is World Vision doing to stop child marriage?
We’re partnering with faith leaders, children and local authorities in over 70 countries around the world to enact laws, change social norms and make sure existing laws are implemented. We’re also empowering girls and boys to report cases and take action to prevent forced marriages of their peers. Through our child sponsorship programmes, we help address some of the underlying causes of child marriage by making sure children are able to go to school and parents have enough resources to care for their children.
Our global campaign, “It Takes a World to End Violence Against Children,” has been implemented in 65 countries, with national campaigns focused on ending child marriage in 21 of those countries. The countries prioritising child marriage include Afghanistan, Chad, Ethiopia, Ghana, Iraq, Kenya, Jordan Lesotho, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Nepal, Niger, Senegal, Somalia, Syria, Tanzania, Turkey, Uganda, and Zambia.
What is World Vision asking for?
We believe the legal age of marriage for girls and boys should be 18 or above. At World Vision, we believe that every child deserves the chance to experience life in all its fullness, to dream big dreams, and to realise their God-given potential. Child marriage is a serious violation of a girls’ rights and deserves a robust global response. As such, we are asking for national governments, donors, and our partners to work together to ensure:
- No girl is married under 18 – total ban
- Ensure access and remove barriers to quality, safe, child-friendly education for girls, especially in fragile and conflicts situations
- All girls need to be empowered through knowledge and access to sexual and reproductive health services, so they can make informed choices
- Partner with faith leaders and community leaders, who can take charge in driving attitude changes and ending harmful practices.
- Increase investments in helplines and other services preventing and responding to child marriage throughout the COVID 19 pandemic and beyond.
What can I do to help?
Sign our petition urging world leaders to step up and take action to stop the predicted 110 million girls from becoming child brides by 2030. This December, world leaders are coming together to look at progress ending Violence Against Children. We need your support to urge them to change and implement their laws, improve their services, and invest more to help other countries end child marriage so that every girl, no matter what country she lives in, gets to keep her childhood.