Child marriage is a severe form of violence against children, disproportionally affecting girls. Girls Not Brides is engaging in the Global Ministerial Conference on ending violence against children to advocate for governments to take accelerated action to end child, early and forced marriages and unions.
About the Global Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence Against Children
The first-ever Global Ministerial Conference on ending violence against children is taking place 7-8 November 2024 in Bogota, Colombia. It is being convened by the Government of Colombia with the support of the Government of Sweden, UNICEF, the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children, and the World Health Organization.
This event will bring together ministers, high-level government officials, international organisations, NGOs, survivors, children and youth.
The conference will culminate with the adoption of an internationally-consulted Political Declaration and provide states with the opportunity to make a pledge committing to ending violence against children. Over 50 countries have announced plans to hold National Preparatory Sessions, including collaborating with CSOs to develop their pledges.
How does child marriage represent a form of violence against children?
Every year, 12 million girls are married before they turn 18. At the current rate, more than 100 million additional girls are likely to marry before their 18th birthday by 2030.
Child marriage denies girls their fundamental rights to health, safety, and education. Girls who are married before 18 are more likely to suffer from intimate partner violence, including sexual, physical, psychological and emotional violence.
We will not end violence against children as long as girls are married as children. For this reason, Girls Not Brides calls on governments to use the upcoming ministerial conference to fulfil their commitments under the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets on ending child marriage (SDG 5.3) and violence against children (SDG 16.2).
What are Girls Not Brides doing?
- Girls Not Brides are working together with member and partner organisations to drive state efforts to end child marriage in the run up to the ministerial conference, ensuring the issue is placed firmly on the conference agenda.
- We are supporting the Childhood is in our Hands campaign, launched on 30 July to mark the 100-day countdown to the Global Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence Against Children. We actively participated by posting the ‘message your minister’ action on social media platforms like X, Facebook and LinkedIn, urging governments to protect children and commit to ending child marriage as part of a united social media push for governments to attend the conference.
- Alongside World Vision, the Brave Movement and Plan International, and co-sponsored by the Government of Kenya, Girls Not Brides are also co-hosting a satellite event on 5th November 2024 on the fringes of the ministerial conference centering child, early and forced marriage and unions (CEFMU) as a severe form of violence against children.
- Girls Not Brides also successfully nominated a child marriage survivor representative from our membership to join the Global Survivor Council, a group established to ensure survivor voices are centred in all stages of the conference.
What you can do
The most important outcome of this ministerial conference will be the commitments governments make in the form of pledges to end violence against children. These pledges will be crucial in taking forward national advocacy and holding governments accountable for the commitments made. To advocate for your government to engage in the ministerial conference and make a pledge to end child marriage:
1. Call on your government to hold and/or to facilitate CSO participation in National Preparatory Sessions (NPS) and engage in this process:
- CSO engagement in the NPS is key for influencing governments to focus their pledge on ending child marriage. Check if your country is holding an NPS by getting in touch with Sophia Lane Sophia.lane@girlsnotbrides.org. We can share contacts for the country focal points to reach out to on next steps for engaging in these processes. Where relevant, we can facilitate connections with CSO partner organisations already participating in the NPS for collaboration opportunities.
- CSOs can adapt and send this template letter or reach out to their government directly, calling on them to hold an NPS, pledge concrete action to end child marriage and facilitate CSO participation in the NPS. Refer to the Pledging Guidance & Pledging Platform for support on shaping government commitments ahead of the 25 October 2024 pledge submission deadline.
- Refer to the ministerial conference website for further guidance notes and frameworks on children, youth, public survivor and civil society engagement.
2. Call on your country to attend and participate in the ministerial conference by registering before the 31 August 2024 deadline:
- Post a pre-written tweet (available in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese and Arabic) to your minister, urging them to attend the conference and take bold action on ending violence against children. You can also amend the text to call on your minister to commit specifically to ending child marriage. To invite others to do the same, you can use the Ending Violence Against Children – social media toolkit to write a post on social media and sharing the call to action.
- Use your government contacts and networks to lobby for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to accept the invitation they received from the Government of Colombia to attend the ministerial conference, for example by adapting the above template letter. Contact Sophia Lane at Sophia.lane@girlsnotbrides.org for a copy of the invitation sent by the Government of Colombia if needed.
Additional resources