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Child Marriage Bill Approved by Senate

On May 24, the Senate passed, by voice vote, the International Protecting Girls by Preventing Child Marriage Act (S. 414). The Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved the legislation on February 14 (see The Source, 2/17/12).

According to the committee report, the bill “finds that child marriage is a violation of…the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and its practice undermines U.S. investments in foreign assistance to promote education and skill-building for girls, reduce maternal and child mortality, halt the transmission of HIV/AIDS, and prevent gender-based violence.” As such, the measure would authorize the president to provide foreign assistance to prevent child marriage and encourage the educational, health, social, and legal empowerment of girls in developing countries. Priority would be given to countries or areas where at least 40 percent of girls under age 18 are married.

The president would be required to develop a multi-year strategy for addressing the problem of child marriage and report to Congress on its implementation and effectiveness. Working with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the president would be required to “collect data on the incidence of child marriage in countries that receive U.S. foreign or development assistance, as well as on the impact of the incidence of child marriage and the age at marriage on progress in meeting key development goals.”