Topic: Eradicating Child Marriage
Country: United States
Delegate Name: Sarah Fruck
School: Royal Oak High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All United States position papers GLIMUN 2012 committees
One in three young women in developing countries are married before they turned 18. These young women are legally still children. These child brides are missing their childhood, education and are thrown into adulthood too early.
How can we as a committee eradicate a long going cultural and religious tradition? We cannot eliminate child marriage in one day or even two. Most countries who practice this custom are going to oppose this. How can we help the families who are relying on child marriage to support themselves and their other children? These families and possibly the countries they live in are in economic trouble. Many families marry off one of their children for economic purposes.
The United States is working on many solutions to phase-out child marriage, beginning with education. As Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, stated in her speech at International Day of the Child Girl, “And we talked specifically about child marriage and one of the most effective solutions to child marriage, namely education.” Educating young women could only have positive effect on preventing or delaying child marriage.
USAID and other organizations will address child marriage by expanding health care and education. They will also help children who are already married. USAID has supported numerous programs to address child marriage. They will also work on obstacles like cost and safety, which keep girls from continuing their education.
The United States would like to see child marriage ended by 2030. The United States is willing to help the infrastructure of countries willing to cease child marriage. For countries who wish to cease child marriage in their country but need help, they can contact the UN Support System.
Hillary Clinton, the Secretary of State, is a great leader in the United States fight against child marriage. She said during her speech at the International Day of the Child Girl this year that, “First, we will in the State Department do more to strengthen our tracking of child marriage in our annual Human Rights Reports. We want to send a signal to other countries that child marriage is a threat to the fundamental human rights of girls.”
We hope to globally end child marriage by 2030 with help from all countries.
