10 Years of Progress: the UN General Assembly’s 2024 Resolution on Child, Early and Forced Marriage
On 18 November 2024, the UN General Assembly Third Committee adopted by consensus the sixth Resolution on child, early and forced marriage (CEFM).* Co-led by Zambia and Canada and co-sponsored by 123 member states reflecting broad cross-regional support, it marks 10 years since the adoption of the first Resolution in 2014.
This is the 10th anniversary of Canada and Zambia’s partnership leading this Resolution together. While good progress has been made, we must continue to collectively accelerate efforts to prevent, address and eliminate child, early and forced marriage by 2030.
Joint Ministerial statement on behalf of the Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Advocating for states to support a strong Resolution
Alongside other key civil society organisations and partners, Girls Not Brides and Fòs Feminista called on governments to support progressive language in the text and to co-sponsor the Resolution. Our advocacy also drew from the findings from the Girls Not Brides' briefing paper ‘Ten years of progress: reflecting on the UN General Assembly resolution on child, early and forced marriage'. The paper outlines the progress, challenges and emerging issues through an analysis of the Resolutions adopted over the past decade, and offers recommendations for future Resolutions and supporting action to address CEFM. Girls Not Brides presented these findings to governments in global spaces like the UN General Assembly in September 2024 in New York and the Global Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence Against Children in November 2024 in Bogotá, to urge them to support a strong Resolution. Drawing upon this analysis, Fòs Feminista was then able to coordinate and disseminate joint civil society comments to all the different drafts of the resolution, ensuring strong collective advocacy at each stage of the negotiation process.
United Nations Headquarters in New York. (Photo by Nils Huenerfuerst on Unsplash)
Key takeaways from the Resolution
The Resolution builds on previous CEFM Resolutions adopted at both the UN General Assembly and the Human Rights Council.
- As recommended by Fòs Feminista, Girls Not Brides, and other civil society actors, the Resolution introduced specific language recognising that child, early and forced marriage may include informal unions. The Resolution identifies informal unions as arrangements that are not formalised, registered or recognised by a religious, customary or State authority. The Resolution further acknowledges that such arrangements should be addressed in policies and programmes to prevent, address and eliminate CEFM, and that improved efforts to collect quality disaggregated data will help support effective responses for affected girls and women.
- The Resolution does not explicitly and holistically address sexual and reproductive health and rights, or comprehensive sexuality education (CSE). However, language recognising the need to ensure sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services tailored to the specific needs of girls and women affected by CEFM was retained.
- Language recognising the impact of negative perceptions of menstruation as a barrier to education and therefore a driver of CEFM, along with calls on states to address girls’ menstrual health and hygiene needs, were also introduced in the text.
- No additional references to multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, or to full, equal and meaningful participation of girls and women in decision-making processes, beyond those included in previous Resolutions, were introduced in the final text.
The Resolution also requests the UN Secretary-General to submit a report to the UN General Assembly on progress towards ending CEFM, including best practices and recommendations for accelerating progress and supporting already married girls in situations of poverty, including in humanitarian contexts, armed conflict and disasters.
Which countries co-sponsored the Resolution?
The Resolution saw a near-record of 123 co-sponsoring countries compared with the all-time high of 125 in 2022. The countries co-sponsoring the 2024 Resolution are as follows:
Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belgium, Belize, Bhutan, Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Canada, Central African Republic, Chile, Colombia, Congo, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lesotho, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malawi, Malta, Mexico, Micronesia, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Palau, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Rwanda, San Marino, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Slovakia, Slovenia, Soloman Islands, South Africa, South Sudan, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tunisia, Türkiye, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United Republic of Tanzania, United States of America, Uzbekistan, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of), Vietnam, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The United Arab Emirates sponsored the Resolution for the first time, making it the first Gulf Cooperation Council country to do so. Micronesia is also a first-time sponsor.
Cambodia and the Solomon Islands returned to co-sponsor the Resolution for the first time since 2014, Brazil since 2018, and Guinea and Japan since 2020.
A Call for Action
As co-sponsoring countries continue to implement policies and programmes to prevent, address, and eliminate CEFMU, Girls Not Brides and Fòs Feminista will continue to utilise the Resolution as a tool in our advocacy, not just at the multilateral level but also at the national level through our partners. We urge national organisations in co-sponsoring countries to leverage the Resolution as a tool to continue to hold their governments accountable at local and national levels to commitments made on the global stage.
* While the UN General Assembly Resolution refers specifically to child, early and forced marriage (CEFM), Girls Not Brides refers more broadly to child, early and forced marriage and unions (CEFMU) to encompass cases where children and adolescents under age 18 – especially girls – cohabit with a partner as if married, but their union is not formalised, registered or recognised by a religious, customary or State authority. Find out more.
In the time it has taken to read this article 40 girls under the age of 18 have been married
Each year, 12 million girls are married before the age of 18
That is 23 girls every minute
Nearly 1 every 2 seconds