Child marriage is a global issue. It is fuelled by gender inequality, poverty, social norms and insecurity, and has devastating consequences all over the world.
Explore our vision and mission to end child marriage, learn about our organisational structure, and discover how we work as a global partnership to drive change and empower girls worldwide.
Girls Not Brides members are civil society organisations committed to working together to end child marriage and support married girls. Our strength is our diversity.
Discover tools, resources and events to learn more about child marriage and related issues, and be successful in your advocacy, youth activism and fundraising.
Here you'll find the latest news and stories about child marriage, and the work our member organisations and partners in the broader movement are doing to end the harmful practice.
Join our campaign to protect girls from child marriage
12 million girls are married every year. That’s one girl every three seconds who is robbed of her childhood.
She’s at greater risk of violence, trapped in poverty, often pulled out of school, and she can be left with serious health complications or even face death due to early pregnancy.
World leaders have the power to take action and put an end to this. But right now they’re not doing enough. We need to tell them to act now.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Summit in September is a big moment for change. Governments from around the globe will come together to decide the future of our planet.
We can’t let them forget about girls.
That’s why we’re launching a new campaign that calls on world leaders to protect girls from child marriage.
"I asked my parents twice not to marry me, but they pressured me. I was upset. I want to study, I don’t want to get married."
Monika was moments away from being married at 13. On the day of her wedding, she made a decision: she was not going to become a child bride. She secretly borrowed a phone and called ChildLine as a last minute attempt to stop her wedding. Her call was answered by Preeti, who jumped into action with her team from the charity Urmul Trust. Preeti sped off on her motorbike, spoke to Monika’s parents and stopped the wedding just in time. Monika’s parents agreed to delay her marriage and Monika is hoping to go back to school.
Fortunately, Monika managed to escape marriage and focus on her future. But millions of girls like Monika aren’t so lucky. They need world leaders to stand up and protect them.
Show world leaders that you won’t tolerate violence against children like Monika. Use your voice to end child marriage, save girls’ lives and protect their futures.
One way we can get governments to sit up and take notice is by showing them that child marriage is a form of child sexual abuse. We know girls who are married before 18 are more likely to suffer from intimate partner violence, including sexual, physical, psychological and emotional violence.
Now we have the data to show governments where they need to act to address this. An Out Of The Shadows Indexhas been launched revealing new data on child sexual abuse – including child marriage – across 60 countries. It shines a light on the often silent response to sexual abuse and outlines barriers and pathways to progress. You can use this information to show your country where they must act to make progress.
By linking child marriage to other global issues like this, we can show world leaders that they must prioritise girls if they want to achieve the SDGs by 2030.
How to launch your own national ‘Stop Stealing Her Childhood’ petition!
Our global petition will help put international pressure on governments. But for them to really listen, we need to make sure citizens in their countries are putting pressure on them too. This is why we are asking you to launch your own country-level petition calling on your government to reinforce their commitment to end child marriage at the SDG Summit.
By launching a petition in your country you can demand action from your elected leaders and show your government and head of state that your country won’t stand for child marriage. It’s a simple way of drawing attention to the issue and putting pressure on a decision-maker to take action around a key moment.
Stronger together...
Your national petition will form part of the larger global campaign that the Girls Not Brides’ team will be promoting in the lead up to the SDG Summit. By working together to collect as many signatures as possible over the next couple of months, we will be able to combine all our efforts for one large petition delivery in New York during the SDG Summit. If we make enough noise - governments will have to listen!