United Nations should declare an international day for the abolition of child marriage, demand raised from India

New Delhi. The ongoing problem of child marriage around the world is a matter of grave concern. Expressing concern over this, India’s eminent child rights activist and jurist of international fame Bhuvan Ribhu has demanded the United Nations to declare an international day for the abolition of child marriage. Speaking at an event on the occasion of the 70th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), she said that there has been a significant decline in child marriage in India in recent years, but even today a child marriage is taking place somewhere in the world every three seconds.

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Child marriage which is rape of children. Emphasizing the need for a dedicated day to strengthen global accountability and effective enforcement of laws to prevent them, Bhuvan Ribhu, Founder of Just Rights for Children, said India has shown that ending child marriage is possible. With a ‘Whole of Government and Whole of Society’ approach based on prevention, protection, prosecution and participation of children, communities and religious leaders, our country is moving forward with determination to end child marriage by 2030. In less than three years, the child marriage rate in India has dropped from 23 percent to below 15 percent.

Child marriage is nothing less than rape and sexual abuse of a child, which is often hidden under the guise of culture or tradition. The United Nations should declare an ‘International Day for the Elimination of Child Marriage’ to strengthen global commitment and accountability against it and to unite governments and societies around the world to end this crime. Sierra Leone’s First Lady Dr. Fatima Maada Bio, Nepal’s Minister for Women, Children and Senior Citizens Shraddha Shrestha and other distinguished guests present at the program strongly supported the demand for declaring a dedicated international day to end child marriage.

Bhuvan Ribhu, the first Indian lawyer to be awarded the ‘Medal of Honor’ from the World Jurist Association at the World Law Congress 2025, addressed the event online. Just Rights for Children organized the event in partnership with the office of Dr. Fatima Maada Bio, First Lady of Sierra Leone and Chair of the Organization of African First Ladies for Development.

The program was attended by Sharda Shrestha, Minister of Women, Children and Senior Citizens, Government of Nepal; Pio Smith, Assistant Secretary-General and Program Director of the United Nations Population Fund; Isabelle Rome, Human Rights Ambassador of the Government of France; Ambassador Thomas Jahnigen, Deputy Permanent Representative of Germany; Dr. Angela Martins on behalf of the African Union; Ligia Janet Pérez Peña, Acting President of the National Council for Children and Adolescents of the Government of the Dominican Republic; Anna Rold, Founder and CEO of The Diplomatic Courier; Jaha Dukureh, Regional Ambassador of UN Women and Founder of Regenerative Hubs; Many international figures attended, including Divya Srinivasan, Ending Gender-Based Violence director of Equality Now, and Rachana Tyagi, General Counsel of Just Rights for Children.

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Ministers, senior UN officials, jurists, civil society leaders and survivors’ advocates present at the event unanimously called on member states to declare an International Day to End Child Marriage. He said that this will strengthen effective implementation and accountability of laws against child marriage on a global level as a priority. Experts also underlined that many countries already have strict legal frameworks against child marriage but due to their weak enforcement, the practice still persists.

Just Rights for Children is the country’s largest network of civil society organizations working in the field of child protection and child rights, with more than 250 partner organizations working on the ground in 451 districts to eliminate child marriage in India by 2030. The network has stopped approximately 500,000 child marriages in India in the last three years in collaboration with government agencies, local administration, law enforcement agencies and frontline workers.