The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) is again using the occasion of Valentine’s Day on 14 February to raise awareness about child marriage.

Although the annual commemoration is a celebration of love, romance and commitment – a time, perhaps, to get engaged or married – UNFPA recalled that each year, 12 million girls become brides before they turn 18.

Since 2015, the agency has run a Valentine’s Day campaign that calls on the international community to “say #IDONT to show support for girls the world over who say ‘I do’ against their will.” 

Child marriage – defined as a marriage or union where either or both spouses are younger than 18 – is most prevalent in low- and middle-income countries but occurs in all corners of the world.

Many child brides are forced to leave school, exposed to violence, and pushed to become mothers before they are ready, both physically or emotionally.

Ending child marriage is also part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which have a deadline of 2030.

UNFPA warned that if progress towards stamping out this harmful practice is not accelerated, more than 150 million girls will get married too young.   

Source: UN News

https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/02/1146547