Every year, an estimated 14 million girls are married before they turn 18.Robbed of their childhood, denied their rights to health, education and security.

Child marriage is a global problem that cuts across countries, cultures, religions and ethnicities. It denies girls their rights to health, to live in security and to choose when and whom they marry. It cuts short girls’ education and traps them, their families and their communities in a cycle of poverty.

Photo credit 'Stephanie Sinclair/VII
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Girls Not Brides is a global partnership of non-governmental organisations committed to ending child marriage and enabling girls to fulfil their potential. With the biggest generation of adolescent girls in world history, just imagine the potential we can unlock if we enable girls to be girls, not brides.


Member Spotlight

How important is minimum age of marriage legislation to end child marriage in Africa?

Ahead of Day of the African Child (June 16), the African Child Policy Forum explains why setting a legal minimum age of marriage is important to ending child marriage in Africa.

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