By Maria Caspani
LONDON (TrustLaw) – An unknown number of girls in Britain are married before the age of 18 each year, with many sent to their family’s country of origin to get married over the summer break, according to the chair of a parliamentary inquiry on child marriage.
Last week in London, the UK All Party Parliamentary Group on Population, Development and Reproductive Health held an inquiry into child marriage to collect evidence and advance action to stamp out this widespread practice.
Early marriage often condemns children to lives of poverty, ignorance and poor health, and is a major obstacle to development, rights groups say.
Worldwide, 10 million girls are married before the age of 18 each year – often without their consent and sometimes to a much older man.
Baroness Jenny Tonge, chair of the British parliamentary inquiry, spoke to TrustLaw about the goals of the cross-party initiative, and the social and cultural hurdles in the fight against child marriage.
