The study on Preventing Child Marriage in the Commonwealth: the Role of Education was launched on Wednesday at the 19th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers in The Bahamas.
At current prevalence, 43 per cent of women across the Commonwealth are married before they reach 18 years old, with around 8.8 million girls being married each year, according to a new report by the Royal Commonwealth Society and Plan UK. This is despite the fact that child marriage is recognised internationally as a human rights violation.
The study on Preventing Child Marriage in the Commonwealth: the Role of Education was launched on Wednesday at the 19th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers in The Bahamas.
“Ending child marriage is a crucial step towards achieving girls’ rights across the Commonwealth: child marriage is a violation of human rights, undermines women and girls’ equality and empowerment, perpetuates and reinforces negative social norms and curtails girls’ opportunities. Child marriage continues to be a barrier to girls’ rights in the Commonwealth, and prevalence is higher here than the global average,” the report states.
“Education has proven to have a strong correlation with lower rates of child marriage, and for this reason the Commonwealth must prioritise achieving inclusive, quality education for all girls and boys.”
The prevention and elimination of child, early and forced marriage is a priority area for action in the Commonwealth, with the Commonwealth Secretariat mandated to work towards ending the practice.
In May 2015, Commonwealth National Human Rights Institutions agreed a new Declaration to prevent and end child marriage.The Kigali Declaration contains a number of key commitments, which includes the monitoring of the enforcement of legislation; improving data collection and promoting compulsory education for girls.
