Every 3 Seconds, a Girl is Forced to Marry.
If we don’t act now, more than 150 million girls will become child brides by 2030.
Child marriage is a human rights violation, robbing girls of their childhood; forced into adulthood before they are physically and mentally ready. Girls married before the age of 18 are more likely to experience physical, sexual and domestic violence. They become isolated with their freedom curtailed and are much less likely to stay in school.
But a child bride’s greatest danger by far are complications during forced pregnancy – the world’s number one killer of girls aged 15 to 19 – when their young bodies are not physically mature enough.
Plan International is taking action to empower girls to claim their rights and continue their education. We’re challenging deeply rooted gender inequalities and social norms and ensuring that girls are involved in the process. We can end child marriage.
Will you join us?
Help End Child Marriage
What you’ve just read was said about 11 year old Atou’s* marriage to a man three times her age.
But, incredibly, they aren’t the words of a campaigner, or aid worker – they were said by Aicha, Atou’s mother. However, Aicha was unable to help, “if I opposed the marriage, I would lose my home”.
At just 15, Atou is now divorced but already the mother of three children that she has to care for on her own.
Atou’s situation is agonizingly far from unusual. Niger has the highest rate of child marriage in the world, with 76 per cent of girls married before the age of 18 and 28 per cent married before they turn 15.
See Atou’s story.
*Name has been changed to protect identity.
What You Can Do
Every day, economic uncertainty, conflict, COVID-19, and more are unravelling decades of progress toward gender equality. And girls’ futures are being written for them.
Your gift to Plan International will help stop the setback and let girls rewrite their futures for themselves.
Here’s what that means: you’ll be keeping more girls in school, where they belong. You’ll be preventing child marriage and rescuing girls from trafficking. And you’ll be telling girls that their futures matter — and that they’re in charge of their own lives.
- Deliver cash support to vulnerable households to protect girls from early marriages
- Prevent girls from dropping out of school in 50 countries
- Protect girls from violence, sexual exploitation and abuse
- Provide girls continued access to sexual & reproductive health information and services
- Provide handwashing facilities, hygiene kits and health information in at least 30 countries
Please give now and start a better future for girls today.
See Our Impact
See more stories about the girls who, with your help, managed to fight child marriage.
