Momentum builds for ending early and forced marriage of girls in the Commonwealth

Girls at a child rights group in India. Child rights groups are helping educate girls and their parents on issues like early marriage and pregnancy and the importance of participation and education for girls.

• People’s Forum event reveals high-level backing for ending child marriages and supporting gender equality
• Campaigners call for CHOGM leaders to commit to ending child marriage and returning girls to life-changing education

Campaigners have called for Commonwealth leaders to prove that the association has real teeth by including a commitment to end early and forced marriage of teenage girls in the final leaders’ communique on Sunday.

The call for action gained support from high-profile speakers at a key People's Forum debate last night, including Australian member of the Eminent Persons Group Michael Kirby, Baroness Ashton of the EU, and the Foreign Minister of Trinidad and Tobago.

Speaking at the event, 'Silence is not an option': Strengthening the role of the Commonwealth in protecting human rights, Plan International Australia chief executive called on the association’s 54 leaders to commit in their closing communique to end early and forced marriage.

Mr Wishart said the issue of early and forced marriage was a clear example of how the Commonwealth could take real and tangible action on human rights issues.

"We call for the Commonwealth Secretariat to be mandated to implement, in full, the recommendations of the Sydney Law Ministers’ meeting, where they urged member states to lead action to end the practices of forced and servile marriages," he said.

"We also want leaders to direct the Secretariat to facilitate dialogue between civil society organisations and Member States to strengthen the implementation of existing laws on early and forced marriage, or, where needed, to identify missing measures to protect girls from early and forced marriage.

"And we call on the Commonwealth Secretariat to be mandated to report on progress on this issue annually."

Last night's event was hosted by Plan and the Royal Commonwealth Society. All of the speakers were unanimous about the importance of ending early forced marriage, supporting gender equality, and working to ensure girls all over the world have access to quality education as a means to ending poverty.

Dr Surujrattan Rambachan, Foreign Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, opened the evening with a story of his mother who was married at the age of 13, and had to give up her education. He said the experience made her passionate about ensuring her own children – sons and daughters - made the most of their education.

“I can hear you shout at us, as leaders, that culture and tradition should not be used as an excuse to perpetuate a practice which is a major barrier to education and good health, and therefore threatens the life chances of over 75 million girls worldwide not in school,” he said.

“We cannot turn a blind eye to the needs and vulnerabilities of our women and girls. As a collective body of the Commonwealth, we must tackle this pressing issue head on. Silence is not an option.

“Let us resolve to work together to overcome the stigma attached to the birth of a female child, to surmount the obstacles to women’s equal participation, to put an end to all forms of discrimination against women and girls.”

Michael Kirby affirmed that the Eminent Persons Group report has references to early and forced marriage, and “that it is a very strong view of the EPG” that girls should not be forced into marriage.

Baroness Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs, who led the UK’s forced marriage bill through the House of Lords, also emphasised action on early and forced marriage as one of many human rights issues that the global community needs to maintain focus on.

Speaking about the EU and perhaps giving subtle advice to the Commonwealth, she said: “Human rights is a silver thread throughout all our work. It is not an add-on."

She said that early and forced marriage was a tragedy for girls and their families.

"It’s time to stop it,” she said. She emphasised that achieving this goal requires strengthening existing laws as well as working with families and communities to help them to understand why children should not be married early.

Plan International and the Royal Commonwealth Society have been campaigning on the issue of early and forced marriage as a key human rights violation that could be dramatically reduced if the Commonwealth's member states were willing to take concrete action.

"One in seven girls in the world’s poorest nations are married before they turn 15. When they are married, they invariably have to leave school, robbing them of the opportunity of a better life,” said Mr Wishart.

"Action on this issue will have a hugely positive impact on the life opportunities of literally millions of girls around the world who will otherwise be trapped in a cycle of poverty, ill-health, illiteracy and abuse."

As part of their push for action on the issue, the organisations have released a CHOGM briefing paper called: Empowering Girls: what the Commonwealth can do to end early and forced marriage.

The paper highlights that early and forced marriage is one of the greatest ongoing barriers to girls’ education, maternal health and economic empowerment, and calls for the Commonwealth to do more to prevent young girls being forced to marry against their will and before they are ready.

• Plan has been focusing on the needs and wellbeing of girls in the developing world through its ongoing State of the World's Girls reports, published annually since 2007. The next edition of the report, titled 'So, what about boys?', will be launched in Canberra, on Wednesday, November 2.
• The Royal Commonwealth Society has engaged in discussion and debate regarding Commonwealth reform, which gained momentum after the publication of ‘The Commonwealth Conversation’, the largest global public consultation on the future of the Commonwealth. It has been named as a contributor to the creation of the Eminent Persons Group and this most recent push for urgent Commonwealth reform.