35/5 Expert workshop on the impact of existing strategies and initiatives to address child, early and forced marriage - Report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

GE.17-04792(E)

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Human Rights Council Thirty-fifth session

6-23 June 2017

Agenda items 2 and 3

Annual Report of the United Nations High Commissioner

for Human Rights and reports of the Office of the

High Commissioner and the Secretary-General

Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil,

political, economic, social and cultural rights,

including the right to development

Expert workshop on the impact of existing strategies and initiatives to address child, early and forced marriage

Report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

Summary

The present report is submitted pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 29/8

on strengthening efforts to prevent and eliminate child, early and forced marriage. In that

resolution, the Council requested the United Nations High Commissioner for Human

Rights to organize an expert workshop to review and discuss the impact of existing

strategies and initiatives to address child, early and forced marriage and to make

recommendations for further action by States and the international community towards the

full implementation of human rights obligations in that regard. The present report contains

a summary of the discussions that took place during the expert workshop, which took place

in Geneva on 21 and 22 October 2016.

United Nations A/HRC/35/5

I. Introduction

1. In its resolution 29/8, the Human Rights Council requested the United Nations High

Commissioner for Human Rights to organize an expert workshop to review and discuss the

impact of existing strategies and initiatives to address child, early and forced marriage and

prepare a report on the deliberations held during the workshop to be submitted to the

Council at its thirty-fifth session. The workshop took place on 21 and 22 October 2016.

About 30 experts from 17 different countries attended, including participants from

government institutions, civil society organizations, research institutions, United Nations

entities, the judiciary and national human rights institutions, as well as traditional leaders,

parliamentarians and United Nations independent human rights experts. The list of

participants at the workshop and the background document can be found on the web page

of the Office for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.1

2. The present report includes a summary of the views shared and recommendations

made by participants. The thematic areas in the four sections below were discussed on the

basis of existing guidance by human rights mechanisms and the findings and

recommendations contained in the report of the Office of the United Nations High

Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on preventing and eliminating child, early and

forced marriage (A/HRC/26/22 and Corr.1) and the report of the Secretary-General on

child, early and forced marriage (A/71/253).2

II. Impact of existing legislative measures

3. The experts stressed the need for different legal frameworks to address child and

forced marriage.

4. Experts also stressed that increasing focus is being placed on the adoption of laws

that prohibit child marriage, with a minimum age set at 18 years for boys and girls.

However, there are persisting challenges in implementing child marriage legislation in

plural legal systems. The enactment of laws applicable to all girls regardless of their

personal and religious status was mentioned as being critical in order to overcome the

disparities in marriage provisions in plural legal systems. In Kenya, for example, the 2014

Marriage Act sets the minimum age of marriage at 18 regardless of the personal status or

the faith of the child and encompasses all personal status and supersedes religious and

customary laws. It was stressed that constitutional reform can be an opportunity to ensure

legal protection against child and forced marriage.

5. Where compulsory birth registration is provided by law, it has helped to track the

ages of people being married in traditional or religious bodies and contributed to protecting

girls. In Bangladesh, the use of smart cards and digital devices for identity cards to track the

age of those who married in traditional bodies had a positive impact in that regard.

Accurately assessing the impact of birth registration within communities requires consistent

data-collection systems and strong monitoring processes that are often not provided for in

the law or do not exist.

6. Participants agreed that making child marriage a criminal offence helps to ensure

adequate protection for victims, in particular if the law foresees the issuance of protection

orders. Also, in some contexts, the criminalization of child marriage had empowered

professionals working with children to have open discussions about the issue, where they

had previously felt restrained by concerns of being perceived as insensitive to cultural

specificities, especially when the practice affects minority groups. However, it was also

stressed that legislation criminalizing child marriage places the burden of proof

overwhelmingly upon girls and women and, in practice, a lack of protection measures for

those who report such practices often results into withdrawals of complaints. Such reporting

1 www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Women/WRGS/Pages/VAW.aspx.

2 See the background document for a summary of relevant guidance and summary under each topic.

rarely leads to criminal prosecutions. When criminal prosecution does take place, it can be

lengthy, costly and lead to further victimization. Furthermore, child survivors were reported

to have dropped cases for fear of criminal sanctions against their parents and family

members.

7. It was recognized that the onus to initiate a procedure to declare a child, early or

forced marriage null and void falls mainly on the girls or women in question. However,

they are often unable to act owing to an overall lack of awareness of the procedure or the

unavailability of legal aid to support them in the process.

8. The need to transfer the burden of reporting a risk of or an actual child or forced

marriage from the survivors to other individuals and professionals was repeatedly

mentioned as a critical step. The obligation to report on social, education, religious or

customary authorities, with clear sanctions for the failure to do so, had in some contexts

been successful. It was also stressed that the criminalization of child marriage could result

into the stigmatization of entire communities, and in some contexts alternative sanctions

should be explored. For example, this could include administrative or pecuniary sanctions

for local or religious leaders who attend or solemnize child marriage, or the

acknowledgement of any actions by public officials to address child or forced marriage

when they are considered for promotions.

9. Participants stressed the need for comprehensive approaches to legal reform,

encompassing criminal and civil laws, to ensure adequate prevention of and redress for

child and forced marriage. Legislation should address some of the factors that lead families

to enter their children into a premature or forced marriage. Female genital mutilation, which

in some contexts is the first step towards child marriage, should be prohibited.

Discriminatory legislation limiting women’s freedoms and rights and, as a result, their

choices beyond marriage should also be eliminated. Efforts to address contradictions and

loopholes in the legal framework were also stressed as critical. For example, legislation on

statutory rape should not exempt married couples, as is currently the case in India.

Legislation and policies preventing access to sexual and reproductive rights information

and services for adolescents represent a barrier to efforts to prevent child marriage, for

example, in contexts like Latin America, where the main driver of child marriage is

unwanted pregnancies.

10. Legal provisions that result in excluding married girls and women from support

should also be eliminated. Legal factors preventing women from seeking the annulment of

marriage should also be addressed, such as laws providing that married girls need to wait

until they reach a certain age to divorce or else they lose their rights to inheritance, which

may leave no choice but to remain in the marriage.

11. It is of concern that legislative measures to prohibit child marriage are not

adequately coupled with protective measures, remedies and reparations, as this prevents

their successful enforcement. There is a need for better coordination of actions to prevent

child marriage, protect victims and ensure their access to services and remedies. It is

important for legislation to guide different government agencies so that all professionals

who come into contact with girls at risk can work together to support them, otherwise there

is a risk of inaction. Furthermore, it is important for legislation to specifically recognize the

services to which victims of child and forced marriage should have access. Monitoring and

evaluation of legislation was considered very weak in most countries, with no national

coordinating body in place in most cases.

12. Experts stressed the importance of using the available legal framework in more

effective ways to protect girls and women from child and forced marriage, including laws

and provisions on sexual violence, domestic violence, child protection and witness

protection.

13. The judiciary plays a key role in the proper enforcement of national and

international legal frameworks to protect women and girls from child and forced marriage.

For instance, in Niger, the United Republic of Tanzania and Zimbabwe, national courts

have significantly contributed to eliminating the practice, either by declaring as

unconstitutional any provisions of laws on child marriage,3 or by issuing protection orders

as preventive measures for persons at risk. However, frequently, inadequate knowledge and

application of the legislation by the judiciary represents an obstacle. In many places, the

judiciary does not consistently apply constitutional or human rights guarantees to protect

girls and women from child and forced marriage. In some contexts, the justice system is

negligent in enforcing the law on child marriage within minority communities, such as the

Roma community, on the pretext of respect for cultural practices. The need to assess

judges’ knowledge of national and international legislation on child and forced marriage

prior to their confirmations was stressed as a good practice to address this obstacle.

14. Experts stressed how genuine and meaningful participation of stakeholders in law-

making is inadequate. Legislation planned and implemented in a participatory and inclusive

manner has the potential to capture the complex multifaceted nature of child marriage and

better respond to the rights and needs of women and girls. For instance, involving girls at

the outset of legislative initiatives and using them as transformative agents to challenge

harmful laws have brought positive outcomes in Jordan, Kenya, Malawi, Zambia and

Zimbabwe. In Kenya, as a constitutional requirement, public participation in law-making

has allowed the involvement of influential actors into the drafting of the Child Marriage

Act. To ensure a broad participation, mobilization should take place both at the national and

grass-roots levels and involve different types of influencers and actors in the discussions,

including researchers, politicians, judges and human rights activists.

15. The role of national human rights institutions in monitoring the existence of an

adequate legal framework and its enforcement was stressed. The 2014 Kathmandu Call for

Action to End Child Marriage supports monitoring the efforts of national human rights

institutions to promote accountability for violations of rights resulting from child marriage.

16. Experts stressed the importance of subregional and regional policies and approaches

to guide legislative efforts in the area of child and forced marriage.

17. More research on the issue of preventing the child and forced marriage of women

and girls with dual nationality was needed, as well as more emphasis on how to protect the

rights of girls in “informal unions”. The need to monitor the impact of legislation in rural

and urban areas was mentioned, including the actual capacities of girls and women to gain

access to legal remedies.

III. Impact of existing policy measures

18. Experts referred to recent global and regional efforts to address child, early and

forced marriage, including the African Union Campaign to End Child Marriage and the

United Nations Population Fund and the United Nations Children’s Fund Global

Programme to Accelerate Action to End Child Marriage. 4 These programmes have

encouraged the adoption of national policies and strategies. While the programmes are

relatively new, there have been some efforts to assess their impact, for example, in

countries such as Chad, the Gambia, Ghana, Mozambique, Nepal, Uganda, Zambia and

Zimbabwe.

19. A number of lessons have been learned from developing and implementing

strategies on child and forced marriage. In general, they have led to clear progress in

breaking taboos about the issues and garnering support for greater political will and civil

society mobilization.

20. The process adopted in the development of national strategies, plans and policies has

proved to have had a considerable impact on the relevance of their content and the chances

of their successful impact. Strategies should be informed by mapping of hotspots and

3 In July 2016, the High Court of the United Republic of Tanzania ruled that laws allowing boys and

girls to marry at different ages, specifically allowing girls to marry under 18 years of age, were

discriminatory and unconstitutional.

4 Available from www.unicef.org/protection/57929_92681.html.

research into the drivers of child marriage in high-prevalence communities, as well as the

triggers that have led some communities to abandon the practice. Policies and strategies

must be designed with the participation of different sectors, including health, education,

justice, social affairs and child protection, and of women, girls, their families, communities

and religious leaders. This is essential to ensure that policies are contextualized and respond

to the needs of women and girls in specific communities, and that there is the ownership

necessary to ensure their implementation.

21. While the involvement of one particular minister — often for gender or education —

to coordinate work across sectors has had limited impact, interministerial bodies set up with

the ability to influence all ministerial departments have appeared to achieve better results.

In Zambia, a body composed of ministers and chief executive officers coordinated the

development of a comprehensive national plan that was then transformed into targeted

interventions for each ministry. Ensuring adequate financial resources for the strategies was

also highlighted as a serious challenge. Channelling the resources to reach the grass-roots

communities and the groups concerned should be looked at as a priority, especially when

rural and remote areas and poor urban settings are the most affected.

22. In different contexts, utilizing specific strategic entry points to address child

marriage has been important in overcoming societal resistance to challenge the practice. For

example, framing policies around the need to address obstetric fistula, ensure access to

education, promote adolescent health, eliminate maternal mortality or tackle domestic

violence have been used as opportunities to advance discussions on the elimination of child

and forced marriage.

23. In terms of content, experts stressed the importance of strategies that are rights-

based and address the root causes of child marriage, focusing on girls’ and women’s

empowerment. While not all interventions need to be labelled specifically as addressing

child and forced marriage, it is important to have clarity on the elements that successful

strategies should encompass. Girls’ access to quality education, in particular secondary

education, is a key component. One expert recommended that education should be

compulsory up to 18 years of age. National policies on education should address child

marriage, which often represents one of the main obstacles for girls. Also, schools should

be made safe spaces for girls, which is currently not the case in many contexts. Access to

comprehensive sexuality education and youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health

services have been found to be a critical component of successful strategies to address child

marriage and protect the rights of girls in the context of marriage. Ensuring that once girls

complete education they have employment opportunities is another key element of

successful policies. Programmes such as cash transfers were considered successful,

although they should be monitored to ensure that they have the intended impact in

upholding women’s and girls’ rights, as research indicates this is not always the case.

Policies and plans must further encompass efforts to challenge stereotypes and perceptions

about the roles of girls in societies, as well as social norms about, inter alia, girls’ sexuality

and pregnancy outside marriage.

24. Experience shows that policies and plans need to include specific measures to reach

the most marginalized girls and women. Programmes providing girls with smartphones,

through which they can have easy access to information on available services, were found

to be successful. The need for a greater focus on girls around the age of puberty was

stressed to be essential for effective prevention strategies.

25. The need to work with and through civil society, as well as directly with girls, was

repeatedly raised. Civil society actors, especially at the grass-roots level, have close ties

within communities and possess particular expertise for moving discussions forward. The

potential of peer-to-peer education and information is immense. The use of social media by

girls to raise awareness about and stand-up against child marriage can be a powerful game

changer. Investing at the grass-roots level in community youth movements and amplifying

girls’ voices was indicated as one of the most effective and underfunded strategies to bring

about change. The need to scale-up existing initiatives in this regard was underlined.

26. Promoting accountability for the implementation of strategies to address child and

forced marriage should be a priority, including through regular data collection to monitor

the impact of policies and plans. Independent national human rights institutions have an

important role to play. Also, with adequate training and sensitization, parliamentarians can

play an important role in monitoring progress and tracking resources. In this regard, it is

critical to be clear on which aspects should be monitored. For instance, the focus should not

be exclusively on whether marriage was delayed until after the age of 18, but rather on how

the rights of girls and women have been upheld, and their choices expanded beyond

marriage.

27. Experts agreed that the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development includes

important commitments to address child and forced marriage. To deliver on those

commitments, implementation in line with the human rights framework and

recommendations by human rights mechanisms will be fundamental.

IV. Impact of measures to address social norms that support child, early and forced marriage

28. Experts shared experiences in tackling stereotypes and social norms that support

child and forced marriage. Among the norms that are most difficult to address are those

related to children’s sexuality and expectations of girls concerning their role as wives and

mothers. The need to invest more in challenging perceptions around “morality” was

stressed. Programmes aimed at addressing social norms should be evidence-based,

scientifically accurate and contextualized.

29. Building movements of young people to transform social norms was a very

successful strategy. Experience shows that peer-to-peer support, education and sensitization

are critical to changing mindsets and reaching girls out of school.

30. Engaging schools, media and local artists are important strategies for providing

alternative notions of what it means to be a girl or a woman. In turn, girls understand they

can have aspirations and build the skills to realize their full potential. A campaign launched

in Malawi and Zambia demonstrated the impact of good quality education for girls,

presenting profiles of girls who had benefitted from the campaign as role models for the

younger girls. Social norms critical of girls who are assertive must be countered, and girls

should have opportunities to cultivate the skills they need to articulate and pursue their

ambitions. Sport is an important avenue for girls to build life skills. In Togo, the United

Republic of Tanzania and Zambia, football has been used to that end. In Bangladesh, efforts

have been made to support girls to play in public spaces, searching to counter norms that

limit their mobility once they reach puberty.

31. School debates on child marriage as a violation of child rights should take place in

schools, youth clubs and other safe spaces as a means of raising awareness of young people.

32. Experience also shows the importance of working with “gate keepers”, including

mothers, fathers and other family members. It is important to be mindful of the fact that the

narrative used about the risks of child marriage, often with a focus on violence and

maternal mortality, does not necessarily correspond to the reality in which women live.

Therefore, in order to discourage them from allowing their own daughters to marry,

additional arguments should be used, including on the promises of education. Furthermore,

community dialogues that dare to “speak the unspoken” are key to identify and amplify

“deviant” voices in the communities concerning what is considered acceptable behaviour.

33. Public mobilization, including petitions or marches, are important to raise awareness

and break taboos around child and forced marriage, as is training media actors on child

protection and encouraging media coverage of stories of child and forced marriage.

Promoting intergenerational dialogues through media, theatre and music has also proved

successful.

34. Working with traditional leaders and enlisting their support against child and forced

marriage is fundamental, as families and communities respect and listen to their views. A

traditional leader, for example, explained how she had instructed other chiefs not to

celebrate child marriage and how she had been successful in annulling over 1,500 child

marriages and sending the girls back to school. From 2014 to 2017, the above-mentioned

African Union Campaign used traditional and religious leaders to prevent faith-based

support to child marriage. During that time, community awareness campaigns led by chiefs

entailed thousands of public declarations to stop celebrating child marriage.

35. Men and boys are also powerful actors of change. They have participated in

advocacy campaigns in Brazil and Zambia to transform views on the practice of child

marriage. Research has shown the need for the promotion of alternative models of

masculinities. The experts stressed the need to work with fathers to change the

understanding of what it means to “love” a daughter and encourage a shift in mindsets from

“protecting her” to “empowering her”. Deconstructing the meaning of protection and

linking it to human rights is crucial for families and communities to challenge the idea, for

example, that marriage is to protect girls’ safety in contexts of insecurity and violence.

36. Efforts to address social norms must be grounded at the local level in order to

strengthen credibility and to avoid perceptions around the imposition of foreign values. In

order to counter possible backlashes resulting from efforts to dismantle harmful social

norms, it is important to have a network of champions or supportive local influential

figures.

37. While efforts to address social norms are critical, it is important to be mindful that

understanding the socioeconomic dimensions of child and forced marriage is also

fundamental. Continued discrimination on the basis of gender limits opportunities for

women and girls and results in the notion that marriage is their best option. Efforts by

communities, religious and traditional leaders and societies at large to address support for

child and forced marriage must go hand in hand with efforts to expand opportunities for

women and girls, ensuring the accessibility, quality and safety of education and the removal

of legal, policy or economic obstacles to women’s participation in the labour force. For

example, a traditional leader stressed how she had enlisted support against child marriage

from families by stressing how educated girls would be an asset for them. However, the

support received is not sustainable if families do not have the resources to cover school

fees, access to transportation to schools and assurances about safety within educational

facilities. Measures to reduce the financial burden of unmarried girls on families living in

poverty have also been successful, including by guaranteeing livelihoods of families

provided that they keep their girls in school and/or delay marriage. In Brazil, the economic

empowerment of pre-adolescents and adolescent girls has helped to prevent early

pregnancies, which are a common reason for girls to get married or enter into informal

unions.

38. The need was stressed to strengthen funding channels and mechanisms for long-term

engagement at the grass-roots level.

V. Impact of protection measures

39. Experts agreed that the lack of adequate social and protective measures continued to

be a reality in many high-prevalence countries. In some contexts, the services were so weak

that victims considered remaining in a marriage as being their only option. For instance,

where women and girls see no alternatives for survival, such as shelters or social security,

and cannot rely on their families for support, they are left without the resources necessary

to pursue a claim. Shelters are often not well located and in very poor conditions, and, in

some countries, protection services are provided at the same institutions as the ones

responsible for juvenile justice. At times, protection orders have resulted in the detention of

girls and women victims of child and forced marriage. Costs relating to services were

indicated as another important obstacle to their accessibility for many of the potential or

actual victims.

40. There is a need to go beyond the specific legislation on child and forced marriage

and use the full scope of available protection measures and mechanisms to provide

assistance to potential and actual victims of child and forced marriage. This includes

legislation on domestic violence, sexual violence or other specific forms of gender-based

violence, as well as laws relating to the family. The mechanisms available in the different

pieces of legislation, such as protective orders, residence or custody orders, are often

unknown by victims, or even the lawyers and activists who support them.

41. The combining of services was mentioned as a good way of combating stigma and

ensuring adequate referral. In countries like Bangladesh, mobile legal services with

paralegals have been set up to reach rural and remote areas. Innovative ways to provide

information, for example, using smartphones, were also mentioned. Youth clubs established

in 30 villages in Niger within the framework of the project entitled “Raise my voice” were

also a successful example of how to raise awareness and provide information and referral to

victims. National hotline services on violence against women or trafficking, linking women

and girls to required services, have also proved to be critical for protection purposes.

Helplines have, for example, been successfully used in countries such as Kenya, Malawi,

Mozambique and Zambia, with the support of radio campaigns. Civil society organizations

are deeply engaged in the development and implementation of some of these projects.

Partnerships between Government and civil society to provide protection services are very

important, as civil society organizations can promote the integration of some of the

successful strategies into government policies.

42. Law enforcement, the judiciary, education and health-care providers are often

influenced by harmful stereotypical perceptions and social norms, resulting in negligent or

inadequate protection responses. For example, judges often take gender-blind decisions,

leading to discrimination instead of using constitutional and other human rights guarantees

to ensure the best possible protection for women and girls. Addressing stereotypical,

judgmental attitudes should be a priority, through training, codes of conduct and the

implementation of disciplinary measures. It was also stressed that access to protection and

remedies can be influenced by the religion, ethnicity, disability or location of the victims. It

was recalled that legislation often spells out general or specific duties for the police, health-

care providers or other service providers.

43. The lack of accessible, good quality legal aid services is a concern in many high-

prevalence countries. Often, girls and women are not given adequate advice on the

remedies available. Monitoring service provision and ensuring transparency and

accountability in interventions to prevent and respond to child marriage were stressed as

critical. Again, the role of national human rights institutions was considered critical in this

regard. The national human rights institution in Nepal has, for instance, launched a national

inquiry programme on rape and child marriage and developed monitoring tools on child

rights for the nine regions of the country. Civil society organizations also gave examples of

initiatives to demand accountability, through monitoring and advocacy. Women’s

movements in Brazil, for example, have been devoting increased attention to the responses

provided by the police and more broadly by the State to child marriage.

44. The need for greater focus on health and social services for girls who are already

married was stressed, including the specific needs of minority communities in this regard.

Efforts to ensure young married couples have access to services have led to a reduction of

violence and increased use of family planning methods in countries such as Ethiopia,

Malawi and Uganda. The use of mobile telephones to provide information on sexual and

reproductive health was referred to as a good example. Inadequate attention to the mental

health of the victims was flagged as an important gap. The need for more research on

successful exit strategies for girls and women in child and forced marriage was mentioned.

45. Further cooperation is required to ensure that protection orders against child and

forced marriage issued in one country will apply in the country of origin of the girl or

woman concerned or in a third country. The need was stressed for there to be more

attention to conditions for recognizing foreign marriage.

VI. Conclusion and recommendations

46. The experts stressed the crucial need to recognize child and forced marriage as

a human rights violation and manifestation of gender-based discrimination. In this

regard, they recommended that measures be adopted to address comprehensively the

drivers and causes that expose women and girls to the practice. This requires, inter

alia, introducing and enforcing laws and policies that promote equality for women

and girls and prohibit violence against them, as well as repealing discriminatory laws,

laws that have a discriminatory impact and laws that enable harmful practices. It also

requires the introduction of measures to promote women’s control over their bodies

and lives, including those that give them adequate access to education, sexual and

reproductive health and rights, information and services. Women’s equal rights with

regard to employment also must be assured. There is a need to invest in women and

girls as agents of change towards the eradication of child, early and forced marriage

and other harmful practices and for the full enjoyment of their fundamental human

rights. Interventions should be guided by the principles of the best interest of the child

and non-discrimination, and should apply to all individuals and communities, without

discrimination on the grounds of origin, ethnicity or social status. There was a call to

recognize and prioritize the need to engage other sectors, such as gender affairs, child

protection, education, health and justice, in global, regional and subregional responses

to child and forced marriage.

47. In addition to the recommendations contained in sections II to V above, in the

closing session experts recommended that the international community, States

members of the United Nations, civil society organizations and other relevant

stakeholders:

(a) Promote locally relevant, contextualized initiatives to eliminate child and

forced marriage. These initiatives should be developed with the full and meaningful

participation of local communities, including women and girls, religious and

traditional leaders, teachers and others who have an influence in the matter;

(b) Ensure more regular independent and objective assessments of global,

regional and national programmes with a view to learning from successes and failures

and to documenting good practices. Women, girls and affected communities should be

involved meaningfully in monitoring and evaluation processes. The impact

assessments of initiatives should extend to the local level to ensure programmes

respond to actual drivers and root causes of child and forced marriage and to the

needs of women and girls;

(c) Provide increased support to the work of regional and subregional

organizations to address child and forced marriage and opportunities to exchange

lessons learned and good practices at the regional and subregional levels;

(d) Ensure greater financing of grass-roots initiatives to address child and

forced marriage, particularly those amplifying the voice and agency of adolescent girls

and young women. Such initiatives have an enormous potential to facilitate

intergenerational dialogue and challenge the cultural norms that support harmful

practices;

(e) Promote greater accountability at the international level for rights-based

efforts to eliminate child and forced marriage, including through all relevant

reporting mechanisms, such as the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the

Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, and the Universal

Periodic Review. Strong linkages should be established between the work and

recommendations of the United Nations human rights architecture, including the

Human Rights Council and human rights mechanisms, and the implementation and

monitoring of relevant goals and targets of the Sustainable Development Goals,

particularly Goal 5.3 to eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced

marriage and female genital mutilations;

(f) Strengthen efforts to ensure accountability at the national level,

including monitoring and tracking funding for women’s rights and child protection;

ensure national human rights institutions have the mandate, resources and capacity to

hold States accountable for addressing the practice adequately; strengthen the role of

parliamentarians to monitor the implementation of policies and allocation of

resources to eliminate child and forced marriage; and protect civil society space and

support the engagement of civil society organizations in the area of child and forced

marriage;

(g) Ensure stronger investment in providing access to quality education for

girls, including secondary education, including in situations of emergencies and

displacement;

(h) Combine the prohibition of child and forced marriage with better

services for actual and potential victims. Provide greater investment in the

appropriate enforcement of legislation and protection and support measures,

including legal aid for those affected by child and forced marriage, strengthened

knowledge of the judiciary of the existing national and international framework to

protect girls and women from child and forced marriage and measures on training,

awareness-raising and accountability to ensure adequate responses. This should also

include greater investment in ensuring the availability of adequate, child-friendly and

gender-sensitive services and in building the capacities of all professionals that play a

role in preventing child and forced marriage and protecting victims.