A/HRC/RES/41/8
active, full, effective and meaningful participation in decision-making processes and as
agents of change in their own lives and communities, including through women’s and girls’
organizations and feminist groups,
Recognizing also the need to support girls and women who are subjected to child,
early and forced marriage, as well as their children, and recognizing further the importance
of ensuring the autonomy of these women and girls and their access to social services,
counselling, shelter, education, lifelong learning and vocational training, to formal
employment and economic independence for women and economic empowerment for girls,
to adequate health services, information and education, including for sexual and reproductive
health, mental health, psychosocial support and rehabilitation services, to nutrition, housing,
clean water, sanitation and hygiene, and to justice, legal services and services that protect
them from sexual and gender-based violence, and recognizing that such provisions are all
necessary for the empowerment of women and girls,
Recognizing further that child, early and forced marriage constitutes a serious threat
to the full realization of the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of
physical and mental health by women and girls, including but not limited to their sexual and
reproductive health, significantly increasing the risk of early, frequent, unintended and
unwanted pregnancy, maternal and newborn mortality and morbidity, obstetric fistula and
sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS, as well as increasing vulnerability to
all forms of violence, including domestic and intimate partner violence,
Deeply concerned that child, early and forced marriage disproportionately affects girls
who have received little or no formal education, and is itself a significant obstacle to
educational opportunities for girls and young women, in particular girls who are forced to
drop out of school owing to marriage, pregnancy, childbirth, childcare responsibilities,
stigma relating to menstruation, and social norms confining married women and girls to the
home, and recognizing that ensuring educational opportunities is one of the most effective
ways to prevent and eliminate child, early and forced marriage and to achieve gender equality
and the empowerment of women and girls, women’s formal employment and economic
opportunities, and the active participation of women and girls in economic, social and cultural
development, governance and decision-making,
Recognizing that child, early and forced marriage undermines women’s and girls’
autonomy and decision-making in all aspects of their lives, and remains an impediment not
only to the economic, legal, health and social status of women and girls but also to the
development of society as a whole, and that investing in the advancement of gender equality
and the empowerment of all women and girls, as well as strengthening their voice, agency,
leadership and full, effective and meaningful participation in all decisions that affect them,
are key factors in breaking the cycle of gender inequality and discrimination, violence and
poverty, and are critical for, inter alia, sustainable development, peace, security, democracy
and inclusive economic growth,
Recognizing also that child, early and forced marriage is a major impediment to the
achievement of the economic empowerment of women and girls and their social and
economic development, thereby hampering the ability of women to enter and advance and
remain in the labour market, and recognizing further that the economic autonomy of women
and the investment in women’s and girls’ development are a priority in and of themselves,
have a multiplier effect and can expand their options for leaving forced or abusive
relationships,
Recognizing further that women and girls generally share the experience of being
worse off economically than men and boys, and that often women and girls experience
significantly higher declines in income and increased dependence on social welfare and other
informal assistance after the dissolution of marriage,
Expressing concern that child, early and forced marriage is underrecognized and
underreported, and often coincides with impunity and a lack of accountability and access to
justice, particularly at the community level, and that the persistence of child, early and forced
marriage, like other harmful practices, places women and girls at greater risk of being
exposed to and encountering multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination and violence
throughout their lives, including domestic and intimate partner violence, marital rape and
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