End Child Marriage ‘Once and for All’, Invest in Girls’ Right to Childhood, Secretary-General Observance Message Urges

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message for the International Day of the Girl Child, observed on 11 October:

Every three seconds, child marriage cuts a girl’s childhood short.  One in five girls worldwide is married before the age of 18.

Child marriage compromises the education, health and safety of millions of girls across the globe.  Fundamentally, it is rooted in poverty.  The risk goes up in times of conflict, climate shocks and displacement, leaving families with fewer options for their daughters.

But, we know how to halt this harmful practice.  Keeping girls in school, improving economic opportunities for families, enhancing social and legal protections and challenging discriminatory gender norms all help girls reclaim their agency.

Over the past 25 years, such solutions have prevented an estimated 68 million child marriages.  Yet, recent funding cuts threaten progress.  At the rate we’re going, it will take centuries to eliminate child marriage.  On this International Day of the Girl Child, I call on Governments, the private sector, civil society and community leaders to scale up investment in proven solutions, and ensure they reach every girl, everywhere.

It’s time to end child marriage once and for all.  Together, let us defend the right of all girls to a childhood, and ensure every daughter, every sister, grows up free to shape her own future.