Tell your representatives to help prevent child marriage

Tuesday, 09. 1. 2009  –  by Janice

An 11-year-old being married off to a grown man.

In The Stoning of Soraya M., Soraya's evil husband Ali plots to have her killed to free him to marry a 14-year-old girl. Ali has not ever even spoken to the young girl that he desires, but instead assumes he will be able to strike an arrangement with the girl's father to marry her.

While the story takes place in the 1980s, young girls continue to be forced into marriages with men often twice their age all over the world. The above picture, recepient of the UNICEF 2007 Photo of the Year award, is of an eleven-year-old girl at her wedding, the man on her left is her new husband.

According to CARE.org 60 million girls around the world are married before the age of 17 — many to men twice their age or older.

These young brides are:

• More likely to die during childbirth. Girls under the age of 15 are five times more likely to die during childbirth than a woman in her 20s.
• More likely to live in poverty. Child brides usually drop out of school, thus limiting their economic opportunities for the rest of their lives.
• Are twice as likely to experience domestic violence.
• Are more vulnerable to illnesses such as HIV.

Ask your representatives to co-sponsor the International Protecting Girls by Preventing Child Marriage Act of 2009.

This legislation will:

• Scale up proven approaches and programs to end child marriage
• Require the development of a comprehensive strategy to prevent child marriage and empower young girls
• Urge countries to uphold and enforce existing anti-child marriage laws
• Recognize child marriage as a human rights violation
• Require the Department of State to address child marriage in its annual Human Rights Reports.

Don't wait! Girls around the world need your support. Contacts your reps today.

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