UN creates international day for elimination of child marriage

The United Nations has designated November 27 as the International Day for the Elimination of Child, Early and Forced Marriage.

The resolution was led by Sierra Leone and adopted by the General Assembly.

Sierra Leone’s First Lady Fatima Maada Bio championed the initiative after a call by Bhuwan Ribhu, the founder of the civil society network Just Rights for Children.

Every year, an estimated 12 million girls worldwide are married before the age of 18. Some 650 million women and girls alive today were married as children, according to the UN Children’s agency, UNICEF.

Sierra Leone hailed the passage of the resolution as a step towards strengthening efforts on child protection, health and education, and would accelerate progress towards ending child marriage.