Global Dialogue Urges Progress Towards Ending Child Marriage
On 30th July 2025, Girls Not Brides, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNICEF co-hosted a digital session spotlighting child, early and forced marriage and unions (CEFMU) as part of a broader dialogue series on ending violence against children.
Child marriage is a severe violation of girls’ rights. It is both a driver and a consequence of gender and age inequalities and discriminatory social norms. It exposes girls to physical, emotional, and sexual abuse and limits their access to health, education, and safety.
At the 2024 Global Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence Against Children (EVAC) in Bogotá, many states pledged to address child marriage in their contexts.
Building on this momentum, Girls Not Brides, together with WHO and UNICEF, convened the recent digital dialogue ‘From Announcement to Action: Accelerating Progress Towards Ending Child Marriage’ to assess progress and drive implementation.
Bringing together policymakers, experts, civil society representatives and survivors, the event focused on peer learning, shared challenges, and mutual accountability. As survivor and youth advocate Loveness Mudzuru powerfully stated:
“It is one thing to announce. It is another to act.”
Loveness Mudzuru, Rozaria Memorial Trust Programmes Consultant and Global Survivor Council Member
Country Highlights
Government representatives from Pakistan, Malawi, Colombia and Canada reflected on progress in efforts to advance the ending child marriage agenda.
- Pakistan: Abdul Khalique Shaikh, Federal Secretary for Human Rights, highlighted the Child Marriage Restraint Act 2025, setting the legal marriage age at 18 in Islamabad Capital Territory. National workplans are underway to facilitate coordinated interventions and support parents to delay early marriages.
- Malawi: Kondwani Mhone from the Ministry of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare shared efforts to implement the 2024 National Strategy to End Child Marriage, with a focus on grassroots engagement.
- Colombia: Astrid Cacéres Cárdenas, General Director of ICBF, celebrated the new law banning child marriage and early unions (CMEU). She noted the importance of the campaign ‘Son Niñas No Esposas’ for driving lasting cultural transformation beyond legislation.
- Canada: Isabelle Solon Helal, Deputy Director for Sexual and Gender-Based Violence at Global Affairs Canada stressed the importance of investing in adolescent girls and urged other governments to co-sponsor the upcoming 2026 UN resolution on child, early and forced marriage as “a signal of collective resolve to end this harmful practice.”
Dr. Faith Mwangi-Powell, CEO, Girls Not Brides: The Global Partnership to End Child Marriage (moderator)
Abdul Khalique Shaikh, Federal Secretary, Ministry of Human Rights, Government of Pakistan
Kondwani Mhone, Child Development Officer, Ministry of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare, Government of Malawi
Astrid Eliana Cacéres Cárdenas, General Director, Instituto Colombiano de Bienestar Familiar (ICBF), Government of Colombia
Isabelle Solon Helal, Deputy Director for Sexual and Gender-Based Violence, Global Affairs Canada, Government of Canada
Barriers to Progress
A shared understanding of the obstacles to ending child marriage emerged during the dialogue. Key challenges include conflict, climate shocks, economic instability, reduced development funding, and backlash against gender equality, as highlighted as well by Veronica Kamanga Njikho, Senior Advisor Child Protection, UNICEF and Coordinator of the UNFPA-UNICEF Global Programme to End Child Marriage.
National representatives from Malawi and Pakistan also pointed to persistent poverty and entrenched gender norms. In Pakistan, climate-induced displacement has led to the rise of so-called “monsoon brides,” as families marry off daughters to cope with hardship.
Strengthening the Response
Civil society was recognised as essential in efforts to address child marriage. Tabitha Mpamira, Co-Founder of the Brave Movement and Founder of Mutera Global Healing, reminder governments that “those who are closest to the issue are closest to the solution as well”.
Loveness Mudzuru called for the inclusion of survivors as core solution-makers in decision-making processes: “not only as storytellers, but as strategists.”
(Clockwise from top right): Dr. Tabitha Mpamira, Co-founder, Brave Movement (moderator); Diana Moreno, Advocacy Director, Profamilia; Zara Agha, Head of Human & Institutional Development, Civil Society Support Program (CSSP) Pakistan; Saba Lishan, Coordinator, African Partnership to End Violence against Children (APEVAC), African Child Policy Forum (ACPF).
- Colombia: Diana Moreno, Advocacy Director at Profamilia, highlighted the importance for collaborative civil society spaces, meaningful participation of girls and adolescents, and strong grassroots support to ensure effective implementation of the new CMEU law.
- Pakistan: Zara Agha, Head of Human & Institutional Development at the Civil Society Support Program (CSSP), advocated for harmonised laws, local implementation, and integrating child marriage prevention into climate and disaster response.
- Africa: Saba Lishan, Coordinator of the African Partnership to End Violence against Children at the African Child Policy Forum highlighted growing regional momentum, including the new AU convention on ending violence against women and girls and the SADC Model Law on child marriage.
Next Steps
Looking beyond current government pledges towards bold new commitments, Dr. Sheri Bastien introduced WHO’s new guideline on preventing adolescent pregnancies. The guideline promotes a whole-system, multi-sectoral approach, with key recommendations for addressing child marriage focused on empowering girls, fostering supportive environments, expanding access to education, and promoting economic empowerment.
Sabine Rakotomalala, Senior Technical Advisor at the WHO reiterated the need to consider that violence is a driver of child marriage, and that child marriage perpetuates gender inequalities and structural violence.
Reflecting on the discussions, Dr. Faith Mwangi-Powell, CEO at Girls Not Brides concluded that “child marriage is solvable if we really mean business”. Governments must stand strong, uphold their commitments and keep supporting vital investment in girls, including ending child marriage, to transform girls’ lives and futures.
“Let us move from the announcement to action, from policy to practice from hope to fulfilment. Let this be the world and the governments that do not only pledge, but deliver.”
Loveness Mudzuru, Rozaria Memorial Trust Programmes Consultant and Global Survivor Council Member
In the time it has taken to read this article 30 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