November 21, 2014 - Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird issued the following statement on a resolution led by Canada and Zambia on child, early and forced marriage at the United Nations that was adopted by the Third Committee this morning:
“The overwhelming support of the international community for this resolution is a clear signal that there is a global movement toward eradicating a practice that threatens the lives and futures of 15 million girls who are forced into marriage each year.
“To the 700 million girls and women around the world who were forced to marry as children, Canada stands with you and will continue to work with partners around the world to ensure that your daughters and granddaughters will not suffer the same fate.
“Child, early and forced marriage is one of the most pressing development challenges of our time. Our country will always act according to its founding values of freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law so that they can be enjoyed by all.”
A backgrounder follows.
A backgrounder follows.
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Canada and Zambia co-led a resolution on child, early and forced marriage at the UN. The resolution has been adopted by consensus by the Third Committee of the 69th session of the United Nations General Assembly, with 116 co-sponsors from around the world.
The resolution builds on Canada’s ongoing efforts to end child, early and forced marriage and on the inaugural UN resolutions on this issue adopted by the Human Rights Council and United Nations General Assembly in 2013.
The current resolution demonstrates the detrimental impact of child, early and forced marriage on the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and seeks to build consensus to address the issue in the post-2015 development agenda.
In addition to our multilateral leadership on this issue, Canada has increased programming on child, early and forced marriage. In July, Canada contributed $20 million to UNICEF to accelerate the movement to end child marriage in six countries. On November 18, 2014, Canada announced it would provide $10 million in targeted new funding to:
- CARE Canada for projects in Mali and Benin;
- Save the Children Canada for projects in Pakistan and Nigeria;
- Plan Canada for projects in Bangladesh and Zimbabwe; and
- Girls Not Brides for institutional support.
These various projects will assist in empowering women and girls; protecting those who have already been married and are now separated or divorced; engaging stakeholders at all levels; mobilizing communities; and advocating to put an end to the practice of child, early and forced marriage.
Earlier this week, Canada honoured the work of Girls Not Brides: The Global Partnership to End Child Marriage by giving the organization the John Diefenbaker Defender of Human Rights and Freedom Award in recognition of its important contributions to the global movement to end child, early and forced marriage.
