End Child Marriage
Child marriage is a violence against children, violating their rights to protection, safety, health, and education, and leaving its victims with an enduring and often devastating legacy.
In India, 23.3% of women aged 20-24 were married before they turned 18.
This is the equivalent of almost 15 million women.
More than 40% of 20-24 year-old women in West Bengal and Bihar married as children, compared to just 1.3% in Lakshadweep.
Despite enormous progress across India, there are large disparities between states.
In 2022, around 14,000 children were reported to have been kidnapped or abducted for the purpose of child marriage.
In the same year, only 1,020 cases of child marriage were reported to the police.
Child Marriage in India
In India, child marriage is an outright crime, with the legal age for women to be married set at 18, and sexual intercourse with a child regardless of marriage is classified as rape. Yet poverty, inequality, outdated societal norms, and poor implementation of the law all contribute to a situation where girls, and sometimes boys, are still married as children. Child marriage forces children to end their education early and subjects them to child sexual abuse, both of which have lifelong impacts. For girls who become pregnant before their bodies have matured to cope with pregnancy, the risk of death from maternal causes - at any point in their lives - increases significantly. In low- and middle-income countries, complications in pregnancy and during childbirth are the leading cause of death in girls aged 15-19. If they survive, they can still develop potentially fatal health complications as a result of early pregnancy. Infant mortality is also a consequence of child marriage. In India, this stands at 45 per 1,000 live births for mothers below the age of 20, compared to 33 per 1,000 for mothers aged 20-29 years old. Worldwide, the overall infant mortality rate is 28 per 1,000 live births
Read Priya's story
My name is Priya and I’m a 14-year-old from Kishorenagar, in Odisha.
I used to happily live with my small family: me, my mother, father and elder brother. My father works as a farmer, my mother works in the local government school as a cook, and my brother is a truck driver.
I always did okay in my studies, but I was really interested in learning tailoring. As I saw my mother working, I believed that freedom for women is possible through their financial independence, so I aspire to work and earn my living. In June last year, my life changed forever when I was kidnapped by a person who was very close to our family. My brother had a 24 year-old friend who used to visit our home quite often. On many occasions, he tried to touch me inappropriately. I ignored him and thought that this would be enough to stop him, but it didn’t - it boosted his courage to visit my home more frequently. He continued assaulting me by touching my body without my consent, leaving me with a sinking feeling in my gut. When I told my mother, she justified his behavior by saying that since the man is interested in me, I can actually think about marrying him, which would mean there was nothing wrong with his actions. This further encouraged him. I lost trust in my mother, the relationship became sour, and I started worrying about my safety. One day when my family was away for their daily work, my brother’s friend came to my house and abducted me. He took me to his house, which was in the same locality, and held me captive there for two days. I tried to escape but failed. I noticed that his family was in support and involved. I learned that he kidnapped me to marry me, and the date of marriage was planned for June 28, 2023. On the third day I was trapped inside his house, I managed to get hold of my mobile phone and call the 1098 child helpline. I had memorized the contact details as I was suspicious of everyone. Soon, I was rescued by a partner of Just Rights for Children, and they found out that the man had run away. I turned to stone after this shocking incident. But support from the Community Social Worker I was given really helped me. I told her my story and my dream to continue my studies further. My statement was recorded, and I requested from the authorities not to send me back to my home, as I don’t feel safe with my family. The team moved me to a child care institution for rehabilitation, and is helping me in recovering from this traumatic incident. Today, I am continuing my studies. I’m in 9th standard, and I have begun to learn tailoring.
Our Strategy
Just Rights for Children has created a nationwide campaign, led and run by its partners, which aims to attain a tipping point to end child marriage by 2030.
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The campaign combines awareness and sensitization activities, including days of action, community events, and door-to-door conversations, with an intervention model which can be triggered by children, or concerned friends and family.
Through this combination model, we believe it is possible to reduce the current national child marriage prevalence rate of 23.3% to 5.5% - the threshold beyond which child marriage is anticipated to diminish organically with reduced reliance on intensive interventions.
Our Actions
Just Rights for Children partner organizations work in districts with a high prevalence of child exploitation, the majority of which have rates of child marriage over the national rate of 23.3%.
The campaign prevents child marriage at the community level through awareness and empowerment programs, and by directly stopping planned child marriages.
At state and national levels, it advocates for stronger institutions, better infrastructure, free education up to grade 12 or age 18, increased social protection, and robust enforcement of existing laws.
Each community social worker employed as part of the program is allocated a set of villages. They are responsible for recording all children and stopping incidences of child marriage through persuasion and legal action.
Our Impact
310,419
child marriages prevented
53
government agencies in support of the campaign
49+ million
people have pledged to end child marriage
April 1, 2023 - March 24, 2025
April 1, 2023 - September 30, 2024
April 1, 2023 - September 30, 2024
In 2025 and beyond, we plan to follow up with families who have taken pledges to assess the impact of our community sensitization efforts. Based on the ground research, we will strengthen awareness activities, particularly around laws to prevent child marriage, and empower community members to combat this crime in their villages, working towards making them child marriage free.
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Just Rights for Children was instrumental in spearheading the movement for a child marriage free India, which has now culminated in the launch of the transformative 'Child Marriage Free Bharat' campaign by the Government of India.
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The fight against child marriage has since gained global momentum, with the expansion of the campaign into Child Marriage Free Nepal and Child Marriage Free World in 2024.
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What started as a grassroots effort has grown into an unstoppable global movement, reaching 30 countries.
