According to UNICEF, Globally, 1 in 5 women was married before their 18th birthday. Worldwide, an estimated 650 million girls and women alive today were married before their 18th birthday. Globally, the total number of girls married in childhood is estimated at 12 million per year.
South Asia is home to the largest number of child brides with more than 40 percent of the global burden (285 million or 44 percent of the global total), followed by sub-Saharan Africa (115 million or 18 percent of the global total).
Increasingly, the global burden of child marriage is shifting from South Asia to Sub-Saharan Africa, due to both slower progress and a growing population. Of the most recently married child brides, close to 1 in 3 are now in sub-Saharan Africa, compared to 1 in 7, 25 years ago.
In Latin America and the Caribbean, there is no evidence of progress at all, with levels of child marriage as high as they were 25 years ago. In order to eliminate child marriage by 2030 as set out in the Agenda for Sustainable Development, global progress would need to be 12 times faster than the rate observed over the past decade.
According to UNICEF, fifteen million girls are married before their eighteenth birthday every year, translating into about 41,000 child brides per day in developing countries. But the truth is far worse, as the numbers confirm. 1 in 3 girls get married by age eighteen, and 1 in 9 girls get married by age fifteen.
Worldwide, approximately 650 million women and girls alive today were married before they turned eighteen.
But not only abroad, child marriage is a pervasive issue in the United States with devastating domestic consequences. Approximately 40 children are married each day in the United States where Child Marriage is still legal in 44 states. Unchained At Last, a Child Marriage advocacy group estimates that approximately 300,000 children were married in America between 2000 and 2018. Marriage license data shows that at least three states granted 12-year-olds marriage licenses and at least 14 states granted 13-year-olds marriage licenses during that period.
“Child Marriage is a bipartisan issue as it is a human rights and child abuse issue. Many are shocked to learn this ‘legal child abuse’ still exists in the United States of America. We need strong leadership on the state and federal level to help raise awareness and prevent future victims of Child Marriage.” said Rima Nashashibi, President and Founder of Global Hope 365.
The bedrock of Global Hope 365 is Rima's lifelong dedication to educate and empower women and girls. Raising awareness of gender-based violence, the mission at Global Hope 365 is to eradicate Child Marriage and Human Trafficking in order to halt the life-long trauma victims of such violence endure. To this end, Global Hope 365 educates, empowers, and prevents through community-based local advocacy, education, and training. Today, we want to highlight some of the recent victories in 2022.
March 8
The City of Buena Park - City Hall passed the Resolution to End Child Marriage under 18, No Exceptions!!! Rima Nashashibi was able to make some public comments before the vote.
“The City of Buena Park joins Orange County cities in supporting the ‘No Child Marriage, No Exceptions’ law,” said Mayor Sunny Park. “I am proud of this decision, as this law is a pivotal step to ensuring that our children are protected and defending the rights of children, especially young women.”
"I am grateful to the City Council of Buena Park for hearing our stories of survival, and for taking a stand against marriage under the age of eighteen because of the extreme and numerous harms it exposes minors to. Thank you to Global Hope 365 and Rima for her commitment to ending child marriage in California and for bringing this resolution forward," said Survivor Advocate Sara Tasneem Advocacy.
Global Hope 365 wants to thank Susan Sonne for introducing the resolution. Also a special Thank You goes out to Mayor Sunny Park for her leadership and councilmembers Elizabeth Swift and Councilman Connor Traut for their votes to end Child Marriage under 18 no exceptions.
March 15
The Interfaith TaskForce joins the Interreligious Council of Southern California by passing the Resolution to End Child Marriage under 18, No Exceptions. A special Thank You goes out to founding president Seema Ali and the board members.
March 30
Los Amigos of Orange County passed the Global Hope 365 Resolution to End Child Marriage under 18, No Exceptions!!!
April
Global Hope 365 president and founder Rima Nashashibi testified in front of the Alaska Senate Health and Social Services Committee and asked the distinguished members of the committee to support HB 62, as amended (changing the minimum marriage age from 14-16) and even to go one step further to protect the children of Alaska by raising the minimum age of marriage to 18, no exceptions.
At the conclusion of the testimony, Senator David Wilson, chair of the committee, requested the author to submit an amendment, which has already been done since then, to reflect the minimum age of marriage as "18 no exceptions."
May 3
In another historical vote, the city of Santa Ana passed a Resolution Calling Upon Our State Legislators to Introduce and Pass a Bill that Would End Child Marriage here in California. Global Hope 365 brought this issue to their attention. A special thank you goes to Mayor Sarmiento for his leadership and for all the city council for their vote.
May 17
The Alaska State Senate passed HB 62 (raising the min age of marriage from 14 to 16) on Tuesday, May 17, by a unanimous vote of 20 – 0. The following day, the House concurred with the Senate changes.
House Bill 62 will be sent to the governor for his signature. Global Hope 365 founder and president Rima Nashashibi testified in writing on May 13 to the senate judiciary committee in support of HB 62 as amended .
Global Hope 365 thanks Rep Matt Claman and Survivor Leader Dawn Tyree for their your hard work to protect the children of Alaska.
May 25
The Women Drivers Interfaith Group just passed the Global Hope 365 Resolution to End Child Marriage under 18, No Exceptions!!!
The Global Hope 365 “No Child Marriage under 18, No Exception” resolution has now passed in 13 cities, 12/34 Orange County cities and Culver City.
Irvine (8/11/2020), Anaheim (8/25/2020), Newport Beach (10/13/2020), Yorba Linda (11/3/2020), Fullerton (11/17/2020), Mission Viejo (2/9/2021, 4/5), Costa Mesa (3/2/2021), Culver City (5/10/2021), Tustin (5/18/2021), Laguna Beach (8/10/2021,4/5), Huntington Beach (9/7/2021), Buena Park (3/8/2022, 4/5), and Santa Ana (5/4/2022). The resolution is also pending in 12 cities and counties.
We are grateful for all the support from the local communities and are looking forward to continuing our efforts to end Child Marriage and Human Trafficking.