End child marriage: a moral and foreign policy imperative. Watch our Hangout!

To mark the release of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) report ‘Ending Child Marriage: How Elevating the Status of Girls Advances U.S. Foreign Policy Objectives’, Girls Not Brides, CFR and the International Women’s Health Coalition co-hosted a Google+ Hangout discussion on why ending child marriage is not only a moral challenge, it is a foreign policy imperative.

In March 2013 the United States Congress passed the ‘Violence Against Women Reauthorisation Act’, a law that includes provisions to prioritise the reduction of child marriage internationally and requires the U.S. Secretary of State to “establish and implement a multi-year, multi-sectoral strategy to prevent child marriage”.

Participants in the Google Hangout discussed what an effective strategy to end child marriage might look like and how the U.S. government can play a part in enabling millions of girls and women around the world to flourish.

Panellists:

• Rachel Vogelstein, Fellow, Women and Foreign Policy Program, Council on Foreign Relations
• Jennifer Redner, Senior Program Officer, International Women’s Health Coalition
• Lakshmi Sundaram, Global Coordinator, Girls Not Brides: The Global Partnership to End Child Marriage