Ending Child Marriage Demands Law, Accountability, Respect

Bhuwan Ribhu, founder of Just Rights for Children.

Global leaders came together on the sidelines of this year’s UN General Assembly to commit to ending child marriage, calling on all world leaders to make concerted efforts to ensure accountability and enforce the laws that prohibit it.

Just Rights for Children is committed to the eradication of child-related abuses, including child trafficking, online abuse, and child marriage. This NGO, founded in India by lawyer and activist Bhuwan Ribhu, has helped prevent nearly 400,000 child marriages in India over the last three years and rescued more than 75,000 children from trafficking.

After successful campaigns in India and Nepal, Just Rights for Children launched their global initiative to create a Child Marriage-Free World by 2030 on the sidelines of UNGA on 25 September. This campaign aims to build the largest global civil society network to end child marriage.

“Child marriage, abuse, and violence are not just injustices: they are crimes,” said Bhuwan Ribhu, founder of Just Rights for Children. “The end of child marriage is not only possible but imminent. By coming together as a global community, we can ensure that child marriage and abuse are fully prosecuted and prevented, not only by legal systems but by society as a whole.”

When asked about the significance of hosting this event during UNGA, Ribhu told IPS: “This is where all the world leaders are uniting, and they are discussing issues that plague the world today. It becomes all the more important that they take notice. There is a pervasive crime — the crime of child rape in the name of marriage.”

“We believe world leaders must unite to support enforcement of laws in their countries. They must support the children and youth who are demanding an end to child rape and child marriage by taking pledges.”

Nearly one in five young women aged 20–49 are married before turning 18. UNICEF data shows that in 2023, South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa accounted for 45 percent and 20 percent, respectively, of the number of girls married before age 18. In India, the prevalence of child marriage stood at 24 percent in 2021. Since then, the rate has dropped to less than 10 percent through joint efforts by courts, government, and civil society groups.

Child marriage is also associated with other negative outcomes such as increased risks of domestic abuse, early pregnancy, maternal mortality, and school dropout among girls. Therefore, the effort is not only to reintegrate these girls into education but also to educate them about their rights and the laws designed to protect them.

Ribhu and Just Rights for Children stress the rule of law as the path to ending child marriage. Experts agree at least three steps are critical: prevention of the crime, protection of the victims, and prosecution of perpetrators to deter future offences. Reparations for victims are also vital for justice and trauma recovery.

Ribhu explained that accountability must extend to adults who aid and abet child marriages. Beyond the “groom” and family members, this includes community leaders, priests who officiate unions, and even vendors who knowingly provide services for child weddings.

“At the end of the day, we have to ensure that enforcement of law creates a culture of accountability, responsibility, respect, and consciousness, where people believe they cannot get away with it. Child marriage happens openly today because nobody is stopping it,” he said.

“Today, I ask you to turn your influence towards ensuring that the law works — not just as an institution or ideal, but as a living and concrete instrument for protecting children,” said Kerry Kennedy, President of RFK Human Rights. “Impunity is the oxygen in which these crimes survive. Prosecution is the antidote.”

Even though child marriage is considered morally unacceptable and illegal under national and international laws, it persists due to failures in enforcement. Najat Maalla M’jid, UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence Against Children, explained that loopholes in legislation — such as parental consent exceptions, low age-of-consent provisions, or unregistered marriages — make monitoring and prevention difficult.

As Kennedy later told IPS: “There has been no history of accountability. When law enforcement plays its part to hold all parties accountable, this must also include police departments that fail to investigate cases. Nobody wants to go to jail — and this fear is what works.”

Ribhu emphasised that deterrence must work in tandem with awareness. “Certainty of punishment is what deters bad actors, and then awareness grows on the evils of child marriage.”

Speakers stressed that ending child marriage requires collaboration across legal experts, governments, survivors, and private-sector allies, including philanthropists.

Some countries have recently taken stronger legal steps. Kenya passed the Children Act 2022, criminalising abuses against children, including child marriage. “Child marriage is a grave violation of girls’ human rights that threatens the future of millions worldwide,” said Carren Ageng’o, Principal Secretary of Children Services, Kenya. “Our youthful demographic highlights the need for sustained national and county investments, especially in programmes targeting children, youth, and women.”

In Sierra Leone, the Child Marriage Prohibition Bill 2024 was passed through the efforts of First Lady Dr. Fatima Maada Bio. She called the law “a bold and historic step” but warned that “law is just the beginning.”

“Real change happens in families, in schools, in villages, and in places of worship,” Maada said. “I do not dream of a Sierra Leone free of child marriage; I dream of a world free of child marriage. That dream is within reach if only we act now.”

Reflecting on the UN General Assembly meetings, she added: “If governments have courage, if international partners stand with us, if communities take ownership, if leaders in New York decide that the time to protect children is now, then we can make history.”