A Critical Review of Girls Not Brides & Its Impact on Child Marriage

This report provides a critical evaluation of the 'Girls Not Brides' organization and its efforts to combat child marriage globally. It assesses the organization's strengths and limitations in protecting children's rights, particularly focusing on protection, provision, and participation rights as outlined by the UNCRC. The report analyzes how Girls Not Brides addresses issues like gender inequality, access to education, healthcare, and the involvement of children in decisions affecting their lives. It also suggests steps the organization can take to enhance its current practices, such as improving funding, marketing efforts, and volunteer retention, to more effectively protect girls from child marriage and promote their well-being. The report references various research and UN documents to support its analysis and recommendations.

A critical evaluation of Girls
Not Brides

TABLE OF CONTENT
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Children's Protection Rights .......................................................................................................3
Children's Provision Rights ........................................................................................................4
Children's participation Rights.....................................................................................................5
Strengths of Girls Not Brides in Protecting the rights and well being of girls ...........................6
Limitations of Girls Not Brides in Protecting the rights and well being of girls.........................6
Steps that Girls Not Brides should take for enhancing its current practices................................6
Strengths of Girls not Brides in considering provision rights and well-being issues of girls in
the context of the child marriage.................................................................................................7
Limitation of Girls not Brides in considering provision rights and well-being issues................7
Girls not Bride requires to improve its recognition of provision rights and well-being issues...8
Strengths of Girls not Brides in involving the participation of children and young people in its
decision, activities and actions to stop child marriage.................................................................8
Limitations of Girls not Brides in involving the participation of children and young people in
its decision, activities and actions to stop child marriage............................................................9
Improvement of involving the children and young people participation.....................................9
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Child marriage can be defined as an union of two individuals falling under the category
of minor or the age group below 18 years in the form of a marriage. It has been analysed that
generally under child marriages, the union is made between a girl that is under the age group of
18 years with either a boy of the similar or a man that can be considered as an adult. A marriage
between a girl and a man also gives rise to gender inequality issues. In an research, it has been
identified that if the organization will not take a step to stop the child marriage, there will be
around 150 million child brides by the year 2030. There are certain causes which leads to an
increase in the number of girl child marriages. It includes poverty, considering the girl child as a
financial burden, and not educating them enough. The United Nations Convention on the Rights
of the Child (UNCRC, 1989) states certain rights in the interest of children and provide them
with the right to life survival and development. The present report is based on the initiatives
taken by the Girls Not Brides organization. It is a non governmental organization which is
working with an objective to end child marriage all over the world.
MAIN BODY
Children's Protection Rights
In relation to the issue of child marriages specifically the girl child marriage, the
UNCRC,1989 provides the children with certain rights for the purpose of protecting the well
being of the children and also protect them from issues such as gender discrimination, sexual
harm, abuse and many more (Wahi, and et.al 2019). Therefore, the UNCRC, 1989 states that

each child has a right to be treated equally irrespective of their race, caste, nationality, religion,
sex or any other basis for that matter. Similarly, every child has its own right to be protected and
feel safe within this world. This right is for the purpose of protecting them from the human
trafficking, sexual assualt, emotional trauma and abuse and many more. The right to health
states their right to be alive and feel free within this world. The UNCRC, 1989 also provides the
children with a right to be identified, and the right to receive education. The right to education
states that the primary education should be free for every child and the secondary education
should be affordable to each and every child. The right to education helps in educating the
children about their own and how they can voice their opinions and issues to the government
whenever there is a need. The right to education also develop skills within themselves, make
them active citizens and independent. All of these rights helps children in protecting their well
being and protecting them from any kind on mental and physical harm that they might have to
face due to the concept of child marriages throughout the world. The early marriages of children
sometimes leads to early unwanted pragnancies which affects the well being and health of the
girl child. This affects the mental and physical health of the mother as she a minor herself
(Tisdall, and Cuevas-Parra, 2020). UNCRC has reported certain articles in which it has been
identified that the girl child is restricted from using her rights with respect issues such as child
marriages. They are forced to quit their education in their early years and are exposed to sexual,
physical and emotional violence and trauma (Convention on the Rights of the Child,2022).
Therefore, in relation to the rights provided by the UNCRC,1989, the Girls Not Brides
organization has been constantly working towards eradicating the concept of Child Marriages
across the globe and taking steps to improve the health of girls, educating them and involving
them towards studying and also providing them a knowledge about their own rights through
which they can stop the abuse and take action against child marriages.
Children's Provision Rights
The UNCRC,1989 has given a list of rights of children which are referred to as the
children's provision rights. These rights are specifically provided to the children for the purpose
of providing them with the right to continue their education, provides them with their right to
receive a good standard of living, get access to health care, have their right to play in their leisure
time. When parents decide to marry their children at a very young age, they stop the
development of their child as after marriage they will be prone to certain kinds of difficulties.

The children have to stop their education when they are married early, because they are burdened
with responsibilities of making a living and carry out household chores which affects and hinders
their studies. When the children are married early, they have to face early pregnancies which
affect the health and safety of the girls and stops their own development. Since, the mother is not
herself physically ready to carry a child in the womb, it risks the life of the mother as well as the
baby that is in the womb (Taylor, and et.al 2019). Such big responsibilities on the children stops
them from carrying out fun activities such as playing with friends, watching television,
developing hobbies which helps in the development and growth of the children. According to a
survey conducted by UNCRC, it has been identified around 263 million children all over the
world are unable to get educated because of a variety of reasons which includes poverty, child
labour, child marriage, gender inequality and many more. Approximately 130 million girls are
out of school currently. The UNCRC have stated certain articles in which it has been determined
that the shock of getting away from the family even affects the mental health of the child. Even
after marriage when a girl child is allowed to study, but the shock of leaving the family away at
such a young age and the burden of the family affects the well-being of children ( 7 CHILD
RIGHTS VIOLATIONS THAT NEED TO STOP – NOW! , 2021). Therefore, Girls Not
Brides organization makes sure that the children know about their rights to receive education,
play in their leisure time, get access to health care services, receive adequate standard of living.
This will help the children in understanding their own rights and raise voice against something
that is hindering their personal growth and development. The Girls Not Brides organization is
also taking steps to educate the people within the societies all over the world about how
educating the girl child can help them become independent grown up women in the coming and
that they are not a burden on the shoulders of their families.
Children's participation Rights
Marriage is not a playful activity, it is a big responsibility and for the purpose of carrying
out this union between two individuals, it is important to ask for their consent before tying them
with this union (Bogdan, 2019). When parents forcefully gets their children marry at a young
age, they are exposing them to various kinds of difficulties for which they are not currently
ready. Early marriages of children indulges the child to have a sexual relationship with their
partners before even knowing the meaning of it, which in turn leads to pregnancies and raising
children at a very young age. When young children forced into the act of child marriage, they do

not get the opportunity to voice out their opinion against what is happening to them, they do not
get a chance to state if they want this marriage or not, or do they want to continue studying or
not, do they even want to have a relationship at such a young age and many more aspects
(Arthur, and et.al 2018.)In cases of child trafficking, the children are influenced and not being
heard. This is an example of the violation of the children’s participation rights. Therefore,
UNCRC,1989 has stated certain participation rights with respect to the children which provides
them with right to express their opinion freely and that the adults must listen to the views of the
children wherever the decision has the ability to affect the life of a child. For the same reason,
the organization, Girls Not Brides guides the adults as well as the children about the issues
associated with the concept of child marriage (Ongoing violations of child rights highlighted as
UN monitoring body opens annual session,). The Girls Not Brides organization educates the
parents about how they are exploiting the lives of their own child by indulging them with
marriage at such a young age. They also educate the children as well the parents that the children
have the right to speak freely against what is happening with them and the government can take
actions against them. These actions are carried out by the Girls Not Brides in order to end child
marriages.
Strengths of Girls Not Brides in Protecting the rights and well being of girls
The Girls Not Brides organization has contributed to the towards the society by taking
certain steps to protect the rights and well being of girls in context of child marriages.
 The Girls Not Brides organization tries to provide the financial support to families who
are unable to spend money on the education of girl child and due to which decides to get
them married.
 They also try to voice the opinions of girls who got married early in order to educate
others about the consequences of child marriage.
 It collaborate with organization for eradicating the child marriage by providing the girls
with support who have been married or are forced to get married.
Limitations of Girls Not Brides in Protecting the rights and well being of girls
However, the organization Girls Not Brides have certain limitations which restricts them in
protecting the well being of the girl childs with respect to child marriages (Efevbera, and
Bhabha, 2020).

 First limitation includes only providing help to those girl child who tries to contact the
organization for help.The Girls Not Brides is a huge and famous organization however,
they can only help those individuals which can reach out to them for the help.
 Secondly, the organization is a non governmental organization whose objective is not
profit making. Therefore, they face difficulties in sourcing out the funds.
 Lastly finding volunteers who can join the organization specifically for the purpose of
providing help to the girl childs as they do not retain with the brand because of income
issues.
Steps that Girls Not Brides should take for enhancing its current practices
 The Girls Not Brides should market and promote the work done by organiaztion for the
benefit of girl child. It will help them in attracting the donors who can make a
contribution towards the benefit of girl child.
 They should educate the parents as well as the young children about the consequences of
child marriage and the abuse and exploitation that the children have to face because of
them by increasing the number of volunteers who can help the organization in achieving
the mission.
Strengths of Girls not Brides in considering provision rights and well-being issues of girls in the
context of the child marriage
The Girls not Bride is a social organization working to stop and end the child marriages around
the whole world. Child marriage has the most and the highest ratio in all over the world where
they push the children to adopt the family system of marriage at younger age (Kohno,
Techasrivichien, Suguimoto, Dahlui and et.al., 2020). The organization named Girls not Brides
has a vision and mission to stop the girl child marriages where they deliver the rights and well-
being issues of the girls in appropriate manner in regard to child marriage. Here, describing the
main strengths of the organization:
 For supplying the appropriate knowledge and education to the society by organizing the
campaign which will help them to create an awareness among people from where the
society has been able to understand the negative impact of the child marriage at the
younger age.

 The organization also provide the education to the society where they put their efforts in
ending the child marriage where the 40% of the people are youth who are leading to
spread the awareness.
 The Girls not Bride has spread over across more than 100 countries including health,
education, human rights and at international level organization which helps and supports
the ending of the child marriage.
Limitation of Girls not Brides in considering provision rights and well-being issues
To end the child marriage all over the world, the organization is obtaining the different kinds of
limitation from where they are unable to stop the child marriages at wider manner. Here,
mentioning the major three limitation which is impacting the vision and mission of the
mentioned social organization:
 The improper funding is the main cause and limitation from where the Girls not Brides
organization is unable to provision the well-being issues and cannot spread their
education widely.
 In many countries, the legal structure relating to the child marriage is not appropriate
from which it is a kind of limitation for the organization. The lack of legal protection
against child marriages have put the negative impact on the mentioned organization from
where they are not supposed to spread the effectiveness (Malhotra and Elnakib, 2020).
 The lack of stakeholder and people working at the organization leads them to get
difficulties in taking the decision related to overcome the child marriages in the society
where they limit themselves to implement any action and decision accordingly.
Girls not Bride requires to improve its recognition of provision rights and well-being issues
The better communication and campaigns should be adopted by the organization which will help
them to stop the child marriage. The online survey has to be adopted and implemented by the
organization so that they can easily create an awareness among the society to end the child
marriage.
Strengths of Girls not Brides in involving the participation of children and young people in its
decision, activities and actions to stop child marriage
In general, it has been already known that in this current era, the youth and children has been
able to take the decisions and actions to stop the child marriage in the society as they are able to
understand the negative affects of the child marriage and can spread out the awareness. Listing

the major strengths of the organization in involving the participation of the children and
youngsters.
 Involvement of the young people and children strengthen the organization and supports to
end the child marriage as they can break the generational cycle of the child marriage
easily. Young people have power to speak out their voice in the middle of the society and
can stop the child marriage by motivating the girl child to not follow these families
system and regulation and encourage them to raise their voice even in the family.
 Also, the young people help to achieve the successful results on a large scale where there
are many countries who consider child marriage in common where the youth people are
able to raise their voice and can stop the child marriage effectively.
 Involvement of the children and young people give the opportunity to learn new skills
and develop themselves as social people where they can feel safe and encourage
themselves and other to bring the change in society and other communities.
Limitations of Girls not Brides in involving the participation of children and young people in its
decision, activities and actions to stop child marriage
Today, it has been known that child marriage is the biggest issue in the overall world where the
Girls not Bride organization have the limitation in involving the young and children at their
mission of ending the child marriage.
 Most of the care takers or parents do not want their children to get involved in the social
activities as it will cause them to suffer from many difficulties which has been caused by
the people.
 The organization also have the limitation due to lack of knowledge on safeguarding and
concerns over the ethical constraint where the involvement of the youngsters and children
occurs (Kenny, Koshin, Sulaiman and Cislaghi, 2019).
 Somewhere, the organization also do not have a right to force the children and young
people to get participate in the decision-making and activities related to stop the child
marriage.
Improvement of involving the children and young people participation
Involving the children and young people deliver the benefit and effective results where the
mentioned organization has to improve their practices of involving the young people. They can

improve the relationship between themselves and children, youngsters and their parents from
where it will help them to make them aware that they are doing the right thing which benefits the
society (Ali, 2018). The best usage of the financial budget will make them to understand the
appropriateness of the organization and will increase the trust and faith.
CONCLUSION
The report has concluded the major issue of the child marriage in the society which is
putting the negative impact on the child. The proper education has to be delivered in the society
from where the child marriage can be stopped all over the world. It has included the strengths
and limitation of the different aspects and suggestion which the mentioned company has to adapt
to improve themselves accordingly.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Ali, P., 2018. Gender‐based violence and the role of healthcare professionals. Nursing
open. 5(1), p.4.
Arthur, M., and et.al 2018. Child marriage laws around the world: Minimum marriage age, legal
exceptions, and gender disparities. Journal of women, politics & policy. 39(1). pp.51-
74.
Bogdan, M., 2019. Some critical comments on the new Swedish rules on non-recognition of
foreign child marriages. Journal of Private International Law. 15(2). pp.247-256.
Efevbera, Y. and Bhabha, J., 2020. Defining and deconstructing girl child marriage and
applications to global public health. BMC public health. 20(1). pp.1-11.
Kenny, L., Koshin, H., Sulaiman, M. and Cislaghi, B., 2019. Adolescent-led marriage in
Somaliland and Puntland: A surprising interaction of agency and social norms. Journal
of Adolescence. 72, pp.101-111.
Kohno, A, Techasrivichien, T, Suguimoto, SP, Dahlui, M, and et.al., (2020), ‘Investigation of the
key factors that influence the girls to enter into child marriage: A meta-synthesis of
qualitative evidence’.PLoS ONE, 15 (7), 1–20.
Malhotra, A. and Elnakib, S. (2020) ‘20 Years of the evidence base on what works to prevent
child marriage: A systematic review’, Journal of Adolescent Health. xxx, 1-16.
Taylor, A.Y., and et.al 2019. Child marriages and unions in Latin America: Understanding the
roles of agency and social norms. Journal of Adolescent Health. 64(4). pp.S45-S51.
Tisdall, E. K. M. and Cuevas-Parra, P. 2020 ‘Challenges for children’s participation: Child
activism for ending child marriage’, Children and Youth Services Review. 108. 1-7.
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