The IRF Community and United Nations Working Group circulated a position paper in support of the United Nations General Assembly Resolution on child, early and forced marriage.

As you may recall, in July 2023, a broad coalition of over 40 organizations and individuals worked to promote the recognition of the global trend of abductions, forced religious conversion and forced marriage of religious minority women and girls, in the UN Human Rights Council resolution on “child, early and forced marriage”. This initiative was a major success, resulting in the first-ever explicit condemnation of this grave phenomenon in a UN resolution. Building on this victory, it is now our intention to raise the same issue in the context of the upcoming negotiation of the corresponding resolution at the UN General Assembly, taking place in New York this fall. For reference, while resolutions adopted by the Human Rights Council formally reflect the views of only 47 countries, the General Assembly speaks on behalf of all 183 UN Member States. As such, successfully introducing such language in this forum would constitute a historic condemnation of this practice by the UN as a whole.

Informative Sources:

• Girls Not Brides, UN Human Rights Council adopts sixth resolution on child, early and forced marriage: Everything you need to know, 9 August 2023

• UNHCR, Child and forced marriage, including in humanitarian settings

• Save the Children, Child Marriage: The Devastating End of Childhood