A/RES/73/153 Child, early and forced marriage Reaffirming the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, 8 which marks its twenty-fifth anniversary in 2018, as well as the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development, 9 the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action 10 and the outcome documents of their review conferences, Taking note of the relevant agreed conclusions of the Commission on the Status of Women, Welcoming the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, 11 and noting the integrated nature of the 2030 Agenda and the range of Goals and targets relevant to eliminating child, early and forced marriage, including target 5.3, Taking note with appreciation of the ongoing United Nations Population FundUnited Nations Children’s Fund Global Programme to Accelerate Action to End Child Marriage, as well as international, regional, national and subnational instruments, mechanisms and initiatives to end child, early and forced marriage, including the African Union Campaign to End Child Marriage, the Regional Action Plan to End Child Marriage in South Asia, the Joint Inter-Agency Programme to End Child Marriage and Early Unions in Latin America and the Caribbean and the Southern African Development Community Model Law on Eradicating Child Marriage a nd Protecting Children Already in Marriage, and further encouraging coordinated approaches to action at all levels, Recognizing that child, early and forced marriage is a harmful practice that violates, abuses or impairs human rights and is linked to and perpetuates other harmful practices and human rights violations and that such violations have a disproportionately negative impact on women and girls, and underscoring the human rights obligations and commitments of States to promote and protect the human rights and fundamental freedoms of women and girls and to prevent and eliminate the practice of child, early and forced marriage, Recognizing also that social protection, education, adequate health care, nutrition, full access to clean water, including safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene, skills development and the combating of discrimination and violence against girls, among other things, are all necessary for the empowerment of the girl child, Noting the recent progress made globally towards ending child, early and forced marriage, including a decrease in the proportion of girls who were married before the age of 18 in the past decade from one in four to approximately one in five, while expressing concern that, despite this global trend, progres s has been uneven across regions and that the current pace of change is not sufficient to eliminate child, early and forced marriage by 2030, Recognizing 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 inequalities and stereotypes, harmful practices, perceptions and customs, and discriminatory norms are not only __________________ 8 9 10 11 2/9 A/CONF.157/24 (Part I), chap. III. Report of the International Conference on Population and Development, Cairo, 5–13 September 1994 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.95.XIII.18), chap. I, resolution 1, annex. Report of the Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, 4–15 September 1995 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.96.IV.13), chap. I, resolution 1, annexes I and II. See resolution 70/1. 18-22209