When 14-year-old Shampa’s family told her she had to get married, she enlisted the support of a local ‘adolescent club’. They sprang into action, arriving at her parents’ doorstep to discuss the risks of early marriage, to highlight the education Shampa would be missing out on and to remind them that child marriage is illegal in Bangladesh.
It worked: Shampa’s family dropped their plans to force her marriage and she’s determined to stay in school and become a banker one day.
We can’t stop now
Every time a child marriage is prevented another girl gets the chance to fulfill her potential. But we still have so far to go. 12 million girls still will be married this year. The world has pledged to end child marriage by 2030 and if we’re going to achieve that
Global Goal we’ll need to accelerate our progress even more.
Stopping child marriage is possible. We can replicate the success we’ve seen in Ethiopia and India - where child marriage rates have dropped 20 and 50 per cent respectively in the last ten years. Rwanda has brought the prevalence of child marriage below 10 per cent. Even though extreme population growth makes progress difficult, the number of child brides is beginning to decrease in countries like Egypt and Bangladesh.
UNICEF and our partners know exactly what to do - we just need your help to reach every child in danger. That’s why we have a special community of UNICEF supporters called Global Parents who help us keep children safe from dangers like child marriage, preventable disease and natural disaster. From right here in Australia, they’re reaching children in Chad, Syria and wherever children are in danger around the world.
Each new Global Parent helps us go further, work faster and keep more children safe. Sign up today to help protect children from early marriage, labour and exploitation, and to deliver life-saving water, health and nutrition supplies wherever the need is greatest.