African Girl's Summit Promoting Collective Efforts to End Child Marriage in Africa (Nov 27-28 2015)

As part of the African Union Campaign to End Child Marriage in Africa launched in May 2014, the African Union Commission, in collaboration with the Government of the Republic of Niger, are hosting a two-day high level meeting to share experiences and plan ways forward to end child marriage in Africa. The meeting will bring together representatives of member states such as First Ladies, high level United Nations dignitaries, women and girls affected by child marriage, civil society organisations (including community and religious leaders), and other stakeholders. According to the event website, African governments and other stakeholders have been actively working to discourage child marriage by raising awareness of the adverse consequences for girls, running programmes that provide girls with viable alternatives to marriage, and working towards more effective enforcement of existing laws that condemn child marriage.

The objectives of the meeting are therefore to:

• share experiences particularly countries that have already launched the AUC Campaign - specifically good practices and challenges on ending child marriage at country, regional and international levels;
• secure and/or renew commitments from stakeholders, particularly governments, to invest more in order to accelerate an end to child marriage;
• hold interactive discussions on the successes and challenges
  with community leaders, traditional, religious leaders, girls affected by child marriage, and youth advocating against child marriage.

As mentioned above, the meeting is part of the African Union Campaign to End Child Marriage in Africa. "The campaign is focused on accelerating change across the continent by encouraging African governments to develop strategies to raise awareness of and address the harmful impact of child marriage as well as expediting and invigorating the movement to end child marriage by: (i)supporting policy action in the protection and promotion of human rights, especially with a view to addressing violence against girls and women and promoting gender equitable social norms (ii) mobilizing continental awareness of and engagement to end child marriage and removing barriers and bottlenecks to law enforcement. "

Click here for more information about the Summit.

Registration information:

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