An estimated 650 million girls and women alive today were married before their 18th birthdays. This harmful practice robs girls of the opportunity to fulfil their potential, denying them of agency, autonomy, equal access to education and full enjoyment of their rights.
Through the Sustainable Development Goals, the global community has committed to eliminate all harmful practices by 2030. Data and evidence are critical to sustaining this momentum, informing policies and programmes, and holding governments accountable for progress.
To support such efforts, the Child Marriage Monitoring Mechanism has been established as a platform to generate relevant analyses, make data accessible and promote data use. The initiative brings together international and regional organizations, civil society organizations and young people around a shared commitment to strengthening monitoring and accountability on ending child marriage. On 2 June 2021, UNICEF and its partners will host a launch event to present the vision behind this initiative and mobilise support. The event will feature keynote statements on the importance of data-driven action, a presentation on the Mechanism and its goals, and a stakeholders’ dialogue on child marriage monitoring.