Video message by Ms. Flavia Pansieri, Deputy UN High Commissioner for Human Rights at the African Union African Girl Summit

26 November 2015

Distinguished delegates, excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen,

Good afternoon. I am delighted to welcome you to this parallel session on strengthening the legal and policy framework to prevent and eliminate child marriage.

Child marriages are a reality for way too many girls. 1 in 3 girls in the developing world are married before 18. 40 per cent of girls in sub-Saharan Africa are married before the age of 18. All African countries, to varying degrees, are faced with the challenge of child marriag.

There is a host of human rights issues associated with child marriage, especially when girls are married very young or forced to marry a man who may be decades older. Informed consent of the girl is inherently absent in these cases. Child marriage is often accompanied by early and frequent pregnancies and childbirth, resulting in high maternal morbidity and mortality rates. It is also associated with additional health concerns for girls, including psychosocial health issues and increased risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV. The impact of child marriage on the right to education is also of particular concern, as married girls more often than not drop out of school. Also, girls that are married off generally have limited decision-making power in relation to their own lives, especially when they lack education and personal and economic autonomy. In these cases they can become victims of violence and abuse.

Child marriage not only violates the rights of the girl who is married off, but often it also solidifies a cycle of deprivation and rights denials which is passed on to the children of these girls, especially their daughters. As I have witnessed through my work, inevitably, such rights violations have significant development costs.

At the same time, eliminating child marriage requires overcoming development challenges, such as lack of education and persistent poverty, which are still too commonplace in many countries. In some communities, marriage is perceived as a way to economically provide for girls and women who have no autonomous access to productive resources and are living in situations of extreme poverty. Poor-quality schooling, overcrowding, unqualified teachers and gender-based violence often increase the likelihood of child or forced marriage as the only option for many girls.

The practice of child marriage represents an extreme manifestation of gender inequality and gender-based discrimination which reinforces unequal power relations between men and women. And yet, it is increasingly recognized that sustainable development is impossible to achieve so long as the talents and skills of half the population are squandered.

Ladies and gentlemen,

This region has witnessed considerable progress in efforts to address child marriage. Legal frameworks and specific institutions and policies have been put in place in many countries. Countries such as Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia, our host, have either embarked on or adopted national strategies and legislation. I am also encouraged by the priority that the African Union has been attaching to addressing child marriage, as testified by the appointment of a Goodwill Ambassador on Child Marriage and the establishment of a Special Rapporteur on Child Marriage by the AU Expert Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. This Summit itself is a strong signal of a firm commitment to free all girls of this harmful practice.

To successfully address child marriage we need solid legal and policy frameworks in line with international and regional standards concerning the legal age of majority and the legal age for marriage. Increased efforts to properly register marriages and births and to enact additional legal safeguards to protect girls from child marriage in plural legal systems are also needed. But beyond this, to successfully address child marriage we need an ambitious agenda which has at its core the human rights of every girl and woman.

We must aim at a world where no girl drops out of school to get married, where girls and young women are fully empowered to choose if, when and to whom to get married and if, when and with whom to have children. A world where communities and families treat girls and women as equal members of society with rights to work, to study, and to lead; not as economic assets or vessels of reproduction. When we do this, the benefits accrue not only to the girls and women directly involved – but to every man, woman and child – because societies will prosper.

Child and forced marriage is one of the most glaring manifestations of how discrimination and inequality have hindered progress for women and girls. With the inclusion of the elimination of child and forced marriage in the 2030 agenda, we have an opportunity to address this human rights and development challenge. I hope that the discussions today will continue the momentum to end child marriage, and generate support for sustainable programmes, owned and supported by key stakeholders in communities and countries.

I thank you.