CHILD NOT BRIDE INITIATIVE (Lets speak up for them)

We are delighted to join the Global Partnership to End Child Marriage, and very much look forward to start working with fellow members of Girls Not Brides!
The Girls Not Brides initiative currently has 281 members from 51 countries.
As the website states:
"Every year, an estimated 14 million girls are married before they turn 18. Robbed of their childhood, denied their rights to health, education and security."
"But these girls are more than just statistics; each one has her story to tell."
"Child marriage is a global problem that cuts across countries, cultures, religions and ethnicities. It denies girls their rights to health, to live in security and to choose when and whom they marry. It cuts short girls’ education and traps them, their families and their communities in a cycle of poverty."
Whether on a national, regional or international scale, initiatives against early and forced marriages have been conducted using individual approaches by organizations or agencies without mutual coordination, making it difficult to assess their impact.  To address this challenge and achieve the complete eradication of early and forced marriages, four members of The Elders (a group of eminent world leaders)--Gro Brundtland, Graça Machel, Mary Robinson and Desmond Tutu--convened a meeting of over 70 child marriage experts and activists from organizations around the world, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, June 2011.  Participants at that meeting shared best practices and discussed the mission, the strategies and practicalities of forming a global alliance to combat child marriage. At the end of the meeting, participants declared their support and willingness to participate in the creation of “The Global Partnership to End Child Marriage: Girls Not Brides.”
For more information, visit http://www.girlsnotbrides.org/