Child marriage: not just a story
Lily’s experience of child marriage involved acting for a video produced by UNICEF and
Bridal Musings. Her glamorous wedding ceremony is in stark contrast with the harsh reality of child marriage for kids all around the world.
While the highest prevalence rates of child marriage are in Africa and South Asia, UNICEF hopes that portraying a girl who may not seem at risk of child marriage in a highly stylised "Western" wedding video will provoke conversations on equal rights for girls everywhere.
Because for the 32,000 girls under 18 who will be married today, and the millions more who have already married as children,
this story is real. Their days as child brides are more likely spent working full-time, tending to domestic duties or looking after children of their own.