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	Stepping up efforts to end child marriage by Dr Babatunde Osotimehin UNFPA, Unicef, Girls not Brides   Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin is the Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)   Barely 17 years old and from the Gajapati district in Odisha, India, Susmita has never gone to school. She rears the few animals her family owns, and this is her primary duty besides attending to household chores.   “I have to work in the field, and take the cows out to graze to support my family. When I see other girls from the village going to school, I wish I could experience school for at least a day,” she said when interviewed, “Is anyone out there even thinking of improving our lives?”   It’s hard not to be moved by Susmita’s earnest and important question. This year, more than 60 million 10 year-old girls worldwide will have started their journey through adolescence. Sadly, millions of them will be forced into adult responsibilities.   Puberty brings a whole host of risks to girls’ lives and their bodies, including child marriage and all its consequences. In fact, each day, more than 47,000 girls are married before they turn 18 – a third of them before they turn 15.   Thousands of girls are led away from school and the prospects of decent employment every day. They are often forced to lead a life of domestic servitude and isolation from their family and friends.   In many cases, they are also often subjected to unintended and unsafe pregnancies. The complications from these early pregnancies are among the leading causes of death for adolescent girls aged 15 to 19. In short, they are forced into this life, robbing them of their right to independence, to work and in turn, drive development.   In Odisha, India, where more than one in three girls will be married before 18, it takes serious commitment and investment to ensure that adolescent girls are not condemned to such a life.   Globally, there are significant hurdles to overcome, and we must address the systematic exclusion faced by girls from before birth via gender-biased sex selection, through adolescence with lower rates of transition to secondary school, denial of their sexual and reproductive health and rights (the right to access contraception without parental or spousal consent or the right to quality maternal health care or the recognition of marital rape as a crime, etc.), and loopholes between customary and statutory laws that permit child marriage.   At UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, we estimate that child marriage is a reality faced by 17.4 million girls each year. But if we speak up and act, there is a possibility for millions of girls to lead a different life, one of their own choosing.   The adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015, which includes a target on eliminating child marriage, presents us with an historic opportunity to help girls rewrite their futures.   This March, UNFPA and UNICEF launched the Global Programme to Accelerate Action to End Child Marriage, which –working together with many girls themselves – will bring us that much closer to delivering on the world’s commitment to ending this practice.   In five years, the programme will support more than 2.5 million adolescent girls at risk of, and affected by child marriage, helping them to express and exercise their choices.   It will empower girls in South Asia (Bangladesh, India, Nepal), the Middle East (Yemen), West and Central Africa (Burkina Faso, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Niger), Eastern and Southern Africa (Ethiopia, Mozambique, Uganda, Zambia) with protective health, social and economic independence, and ensure that they can develop their abilities, so as to realize their full potential.   It will also contribute to a demographic dividend, which is the economic growth you can achieve by empowering, educating and employing a country’s youth. Recognizing that girls’ households and communities are of the utmost importance, we will work with them to ensure they invest in their daughters.   At the United Nations, we continue to partner with national governments to improve health, education, and other systems, and to ensure the law protects and promotes girls’ rights, including their sexual and reproductive health.   With the support of UNFPA and local partners, Susmita now has the opportunity to participate in a programme designed to help her and her family delay marriage.   Giving her knowledge about her health and rights, the confidence to express herself, a mentor, friends, and the opportunity to enroll in an appropriate school. With this support she can set her life on a different path. We must deliver better for more girls like Susmita, despite the many needs, challenges and crises facing us today, girls’ and women’s rights must remain a priority.   We now know about the kinds of investments needed to uphold these rights. Indeed, this is the foundation for a safer, more equitable and just world, not only for girls, but for all.   http://www.unfpa.org/child-marriage http://www.unfpa.org/news http://www.girlsnotbrides.org/ http://www.unicef.org/media/media_90394.html http://www.unicef.org/protection/57929_58008.html http://www.unicef.org/media/media_89711.html http://www.theelders.org/news-media/child-marriage
	Human Rights Commission of Pakistan saddened over the loss of co-founder Asma Jahangir by HRCP, FIDH, Amnesty, Human Rights Watch Pakistan   The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) is devastated and shocked at the unexpected and sudden passing away of its co-founder Asma Jahangir: exemplary lawyer, human rights icon, pro-democracy champion, friend and mentor par excellence, and a brave comrade of the poor and the disadvantaged. She died yesterday due to cardiac arrest.   The human rights movement in Pakistan was founded and is defined by Asma Jahangir. She co-founded HRCP in 1986 to establish a highly informed and objective voice on a national level in the struggle for the provision of human rights for all and democratic development in Pakistan. Yet, HRCP had a voice and reach, both nationally and internationally mainly because of her. Asma Jahangir had served as Secretary-General and Chairperson of HRCP in the past. She was currently serving as HRCP’s Spokesperson and as the UN Special Rapporteur of Human Rights in Iran, among her numerous other significant appointments.   Asma Jahangir’s unique and outstanding contribution to the human rights discourse is acknowledged by friend and foe alike, nationally and globally. HRCP has not known a braver and more tireless human rights defender than Asma Jahangir. She will be missed, always and immensely, by all whose lives she touched. http://bit.ly/2G5HOOX   Feb. 2018   Statement by the Coordination Committee of UN Special Procedures on the loss of Asma Jahangir, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran.   It is with profound sadness and shock that we have learned about the sudden loss of our colleague and friend, Ms. Asma Jahangir. She was a prominent member of the Special Procedures system, having served as special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, and special rapporteur on the freedom of religion or belief. Her last and current engagement was as special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran.   Asma’s contribution to our system and the human rights cause as a whole has been a life-long endeavor. She has always demonstrated courage and determination with the ultimate goal of improving human rights around the world.   She will be remembered as an outstanding expert, as a courageous and tireless advocate for all human rights, and as an inspiring colleague. She was committed and passionate in her work, devoting her life to promoting democracy and to advancing women''s rights in not only her own country, but around the world. It was an honour and also a privilege to have known such a great person. We will miss Asma dearly. We extend our sincere condolences to her family and friends. http://bit.ly/2EEPxGK   Feb. 2018   The International Federation for Human Rights pays tribute to Asma Jahangir, a Pakistani lawyer and activist for human rights.   We are deeply saddened to learn of the death of Asma Jahangir, a Pakistani lawyer and activist for human rights, on Sunday, 11 February 2018. FIDH shares the sorrow of her family, colleagues and friends of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and wishes to express our whole-hearted support.   Asma was a FIDH Vice President from 2010 to 2013. She was the incarnation of our movement and its values. For us she was a model of intellectuel refinement, bravery and courage that she used to serve the cause that we want to serve, namely the defence of human rights and democracy around the world.   Asma Jahangir was one of those people who stands up when faced with injustice, who rebels against inequality and resists indifference in order to make the world fairer.   Today, the human rights defence community mourns a great lady who will continue to be a source of motivations for us all and will inspire us to continue our fight.   http://www.fidh.org/en/issues/human-rights-defenders/fidh-pays-tribute-to-asma-jahangir-a-pakistani-lawyer-and-activist/ http://www.hrw.org/news/2018/02/12/human-rights-icon-asma-jahangir-passes-away http://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/02/asma-jahangir-leaves-a-brave-human-rights-legacy
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