The girls and women fighting to stop child marriage – photo essay | Global development | The Guardian

"Twelve million girls are married every year before they reach 18, according to UN estimates. And in its first set of global statistics on child marriage rates among boys, the UN found one in 30 young men were married as children.

Advances have been made, however. Ending child marriage by 2030 is a target in the UN’s set of sustainable development goals, and many countries have launched strategies to stop the practice. But progress is slow and likely to be badly affected by the coronavirus pandemic as closed schools and financial pressures take their toll on families. In April, the United Nations Population Fund predicted that an additional 13 million children could be married over the next decade because of disruption to programmes.

But some girls and women are taking matters into their own hands and campaigning for change where they live. The girls who speak here were photographed in collaboration with the London-based NGO Girls Not Brides – an international network of more than 1,400 civil society organisations working to end child marriage and enable girls to fulfil their potential...."