United States’ child marriage problem

Child marriage — or marriage before age 18 — remains legal in most of the U.S. And it is happening at an alarming rate: According to research from Unchained At Last, nearly 300,000 children, some as young as 10, were married in the U.S. between 2000 and 2018. Most were girls wed to adult men.

Child marriage creates a nightmarish legal trap, due to minors’ limited legal rights. They cannot easily leave home, enter a domestic violence shelter, retain an attorney or even file for divorce. Further, child marriage is recognized as a human rights abuse that destroys nearly every aspect of an American girl’s life.

And child marriage undermines statutory rape laws: At least 60,000 marriages in the U.S. between 2000 and 2018 occurred at an age or with a spousal age difference that should have been considered a sex crime.

National Coalition to End Child Marriage in the U.S.

Unchained At Last and Equality Now have convened the National Coalition to End Child Marriage in the United States to bring together organizations and individuals determined to end child marriage in the U.S.

The mission of the coalition is to end all marriage before age 18 in the U.S., without exception. The coalition pursues various approaches in pursuit of this mission, including:

• Amending the federal laws that encourage child marriage; and

• Supporting state-level advocacy to set a marriage age of 18, no exceptions, in every U.S. state.

All civil society organizations that are committed to ending child marriage in the United States and agree with the coalition’s mission, including Girls Not Brides members, are invited to join the coalition. Survivors of child marriage also are invited to join.

Message for survivors of child marriage: Whether or not you join the National Coalition to End Child Marriage, you can contact Unchained At Last here to get support.

Co-convenors

Steering Committee

Organization Allies

Survivor Allies