Child, early and forced marriage A/RES/77/202 all forms of discrimination and violence against girls, among other things, are all necessary for the empowerment of the girl child, Expressing concern that despite the recent progress made globally towards ending child, early and forced marriage, including a decrease of 15 per cent in the proportion of girls who were married before the age of 18 in the past decade, progress has been uneven across regions, both between and within countries, and that existing data show that, at the current pace of progress, target 5.3 of the Sustainable Development Goals, which involves ending the practice by 2030, will not be met in any region of the world, Noting with concern that the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has undermined the hard-won gains achieved on ending harmful practices, including child, early and forced marriage, and continues to compromise the ability of Member States to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, including target 5.3, by 2030, Noting that the current pace of change is not sufficient to eliminate child, early and forced marriage by 2030, where, in addition to the 12 million child, early and forced marriages that occur every year, the effects of the COVID -19 pandemic are projected to result in more than 13 million additional cases of child, early and forced marriage that otherwise would have been averted by 2030, with girls from poor households, rural and remote areas, those living in humanitarian situations and those who have dropped out of formal education particularly at risk, Recognizing that global health threats, climate change, biodiversity loss, environmental degradation, more frequent and intense natural disasters, armed conflicts, violent extremism as and when conducive to terrorism, and related humanitarian emergencies and the forced displacement of people have particularly negative impacts on women and girls, including those with disabilities, while recognizing also that poverty, including the feminization of poverty, insecurity, ea rly and unintended pregnancy and lack of access to quality education are also among the root causes of child, early and forced marriage, Recognizing also that, in some contexts, the practice of child, early and forced marriage may include arrangements that are not formalized, registered or recognized by a religious or State authority, that such arrangements should be addressed in policies and programmes on child, early and forced marriage and that the gathering of information on these arrangements will help to develop responses for affected girls and women, Noting with concern that deep-rooted gender discrimination, inequalities and stereotypes, harmful practices, perceptions and customs, patriarchal attitudes and structures and discriminatory social norms that consider women and girls to be inferior to men and boys are not only obstacles to the full enjoyment of human rights and the empowerment of all women and girls, but are also among the root causes of child, early and forced marriage, and that the per sistence of child, early and forced marriage places children, in particular girls, at greater risk of being exposed to and encountering various forms of discrimination and violence throughout their lives, Noting with concern also that child, early and forced marriage remains common in rural areas and among the poorest communities and has increased among the poorest communities over the past decade, and acknowledging the correlation between child, early and forced marriage and economic insecurity, poverty a nd lack of income opportunities and that the immediate alleviation and eradication of extreme poverty must remain a high priority for the international community, Recognizing that child, early and forced marriage is underrecognized and underreported and often coincides with impunity and lack of accountability, particularly at the community level, and that the persistence of child, early and forced 22-28917 3/13