A/HRC/RES/41/8 sexual, physical and psychological violence, and reinforces the lower status of girls and adolescent girls in society, Noting that women and girls subjected to child, early and forced marriage may face discriminatory legal, practical and structural barriers to their access to justice and legal services, including stigmatization, risk of revictimization, harassment and possible retribution, Recognizing that the criminalization alone of child, early and forced marriage is insufficient when introduced without complementary measures and support programmes, and may instead contribute to the marginalization of and the loss of livelihoods for the families affected, and have the unintended effect of increasing the practice of informal unions or unregistered marriage, Recognizing also that everyone, including men and boys, benefits from the achievement of gender equality and that the impacts of gender inequality, discrimination and violence against women and girls, including child, early and forced marriage, are borne by society as a whole, and emphasizing therefore that men and boys, by taking responsibility themselves and working jointly in partnership with women and girls at all levels, can contribute to transforming discriminatory social norms that perpetuate gender-based violence, including child, early and forced marriage, and ending this practice, Recognizing further that preventing and ending child, early and forced marriage and supporting married girls and women affected by this harmful practice require appropriate gender- and age-responsive protection, prevention and response measures, as well as coordinated action by relevant stakeholders, and that existing gaps in the collection and use of reliable, disaggregated data and evidence remain a major challenge for programming and informing appropriate measures and actions, Recognizing that the registration of births, marriages, divorces and deaths is part of a comprehensive civil registration system that facilitates the development of vital statistics and the effective planning and implementation of programmes and policies intended to promote better governance and to achieve sustainable development, and that the absence of compulsory registration of customary and religious marriages is a major impediment to the implementation of existing legislation and other initiatives to prevent and eliminate child, early and forced marriage, 1. Recognizes that child, early and forced marriage constitutes a violation, abuse or impairment of human rights and a harmful practice that prevents individuals from living their lives free from all forms of discrimination and violence, and that it has wide-ranging and adverse consequences for the enjoyment of human rights, the right to education and the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, including the right to sexual and reproductive health, and that every girl and woman at risk of or affected by these practices must have equal access to quality education, counselling, shelter and other social services, psychological, sexual and reproductive health-care services and medical care; 2. Urges States to respect, protect and fulfil the human rights of women and girls, including those subjected to child, early and forced marriage, to promote equality in all aspects of marriage and its dissolution and to address their specific needs, such as through targeted programmes that provide social services to protect them from sexual and genderbased violence, including domestic and intimate-partner violence, increase their decisionmaking power and financial literacy, make it easier for women to seek formal employment and increase their economic independence, improve women’s and girls’ access to education, skills development programmes, vocational training and lifelong learning opportunities, ensure their equal access to sexual and reproductive health-care services, including for family planning, information and education, and decrease their social isolation, including by establishing or strengthening childcare services and working with communities to change discriminatory social norms; 3. Also urges States to enact, enforce, harmonize and uphold laws and policies aimed at preventing, responding to and eliminating child, early and forced marriage, protecting those at risk, including in humanitarian settings, and supporting women and girls subjected to child, early and forced marriage, and to ensure that marriage is entered into only with the informed, free and full consent of the intending spouses and that women have 4