As a key player in shaping global development priorities—priorities that include education, health care, food security, economic empowerment and ending violence against women and girls—the United States has an important role in ending early and forced marriage worldwide. We can’t achieve real, sustainable development without protecting and securing the right of all girls to decide if, when and whom they marry. The importance of ending child marriage has received an increasing amount of attention in recent years, and political will to address the issue is hopefully at a tipping point. Now is the time for the U.S. government to translate this rhetoric into more dollars invested strategically in policies and programs to prevent child marriage and support girls who are already married.

With the recent passage of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), Secretary of State John Kerry now has a legislative mandate to produce a multisectoral and multiyear strategy to end child marriage.

The multisectoral aspect of the legislative mandate is important because there is a diversity of root causes of child marriage, including gender inequality, poverty and religious and customary practices. Therefore, the solutions to end child marriage must be equally diverse and cover a range of sectors (such as health, education and economic empowerment) to provide a holistic and comprehensive response that addresses the full needs of married and unmarried girls.

Specifically, ending child marriage requires investing in policies and programs that:

• Are coordinated across relevant U.S. agencies and bureaus and focused on building girls’ health, social, and economic assets, and promoting gender-equitable and pro-girl social norms;
• Include partnership with other donors and national governments in specific sub-national districts;
• Increase work directly with married girls, or girls at-risk for early marriage as a core constituency, offering them information, skills, and support networks, including girl-only spaces;
• Integrate activities for preventing early marriage and supporting married adolescents into existing programs, including those focused on improving outcomes related to maternal health, HIV/AIDS, economic empowerment, food security, and education.
• Define and evaluate change at the level of the girl, as well as her family and community, over time;
• Educate and mobilize parents, religious and traditional leaders, and community members;
• Enhance the accessibility and quality of schooling for girls;
• Offer economic support and incentives for girls and their families; and
• Foster an enabling legal and policy framework.

As co-chair of Girls Not Brides USA, the International Women’s Health Coalition is working to ensure the U.S. government, working across relevant bureaus and agencies, develops and implements a comprehensive strategy to end child marriage. This includes appropriating the necessary funds to fully execute the strategy, as well as monitoring efforts and measuring progress toward meeting our goals.

An estimated 140 million girls will become child brides between 2011 and 2020. Failure to prioritize the development and implementation of comprehensive policies and programs for married and unmarried girls is ultimately a failure to help girls who need it most to live healthy, safe, educated and empowered lives.

You can help: join the 50 Days of Action for Women and Girls campaign by tweeting with the hashtags #usa4girls and #usa4women and calling upon the U.S. government to do its part to end this egregious violation of human rights.

Our future prospects as a global community depend on whether we choose to take decisive and strategic action now. Girls simply cannot and should not have to wait any longer.

Let’s give girls a choice, and a chance, for a real future.

Law 18.987, commonly known as “la ley de la interrupciónvoluntaria del embarazo” (“Law of Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy”), permits abortion in the first trimester (albeit with certain limitations and restrictions), and during the first 14 weeks in the case of rape and with no restrictions when a woman’s life is at risk or there are severe fetal anomalies. With the passage of this law, Uruguay became one of the few places in the region, along with Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guyana and Mexico City, permitting abortion in the first trimester.

It was not long, however, until anti-choice groups began to mobilize. Now that the required number of signatures has been submitted, the Electoral Court has a deadline of 45 days in which to call a vote, likely to take place on June 23. This vote, which is non-obligatory, asks the electorate if they are in favor of holding a referendum to repeal the law. If 25 percent of the ballots (roughly 640,000 votes) are cast in favor of the referendum, the referendum will be held in October.

Uruguay is often described as a progressive country. Marriage equality legislation passed in April, and public opinion polls reveal a majority of Uruguayans support fewer restrictions on abortion. These factors should contribute to an environment with greater reproductive rights, yet it has still been difficult for advocates of safe, legal abortion, such as IWHC’s partner organization, MYSU (Mujer y Salud en Uruguay, or “Women and Health in Uruguay”), to overcome political, cultural and religious opposition to attain safe, legal abortion for women. The passage of this law, the culmination of a 12-year struggle, reflects this.

IWHC will continue to stand by MYSU and other advocates of women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights in Latin America. Despite this repeal movement, the past year’s events in Uruguay demonstrate evolving public opinion and the emerging realization that reproductive rights are fundamental human rights.

Such shifts in opinion have already produced positive developments in the region. In Argentina last September, government officials in Buenos Aires passed a law that removed restrictions on abortion in the case of rape or when a woman’s life is endangered (unfortunately, the mayor vetoed the legislation). And in Brazil, the Federal Council on Medicine called for the legalization of abortion in the first 12 weeks.

But we have also seen how these accomplishments have been threatened. Central American countries (namely Nicaragua, Honduras, and Guatemala) are further restricting already rigid anti-choice legislation and, in some cases, restricting the availability of contraceptives.

So while recent events have been encouraging, the process to achieve greater sexual and reproductive rights in Latin America remains fragile, vulnerable to underlying conservative tendencies. Yet in a region where unsafe, clandestine abortions account for 12 percent of maternal deaths and nearly one million hospitalizations due to complications, it is becoming evident that women in Latin America deserve safer options to address their reproductive needs and are increasingly mobilizing to fight for them.

You only need to read the headlines every morning to know that immigration is a big issue, so the theme of this year’s session, “New Trends in Migration,” was especially timely. Today, more women are migrating than ever before, representing nearly half of the total international migrant population, and in some countries, as much as 70 to 80 percent.

During the process of migration, women and girls tend to be more vulnerable to human rights violations, particularly breaches of their sexual and reproductive health and rights including violence and sexual coercion.

In recognition of these realities, the Resolution urges governments to “incorporate a gender perspective into all policies and programs on international migration,” and to “strengthen actions to prevent and eliminate all forms of violence, coercion, discrimination, trafficking in persons, and exploitation and abuse of women and girls.”

The Resolution also calls upon governments to provide migrants with access to sexual and reproductive health services, information and education, and implement measures to prevent violence. These services include emergency contraception, safe abortion where permitted by law, and HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, care and support.

Françoise Girard, President of IWHC, welcomed the final Resolution:

“We are pleased that governments have committed to respecting the rights and meeting the needs of migrant women and girls, given the large numbers of women who migrate for work around the world today. This agreement makes clear that health services for migrant women must include sexual and reproductive health services, including vital services for migrants who have suffered violence such as emergency contraception and safe abortion.”

The negotiations during the weeklong Commission reached tense levels over issues of whether and to what extent migrants should have access to services. The European Union and Canada, in particular, strongly opposed extending services to all migrants regardless of migration status. For its part, the Vatican once again argued against sexual and reproductive health and rights and claimed not to see any connection between sexual and reproductive health and migration—turning a blind eye to the clear needs of migrant women and girls. The Vatican was joined by conservative governments such as Nigeria, Egypt, and Qatar. In the end, however, they were unable to thwart consensus.

As my colleague Sarah explained in this post, the UN established eight international development goals, called the Millennium Development Goals (or “the MDGs”) in 2000. The MDGs were a diverse set of objectives—from eradicating extreme poverty to improving maternal health—the UN wanted to reach by 2015. Now that this MDG deadline is only a few years away, the international community is looking ahead to define what’s come to be known as the Post-2015 Development Agenda, or “post-2015.”

The United States is helping develop the post-2015 agenda. John Podesta, the founder of the Center for American Progress, is a member of the High-Level Panel, a group of 27 international government officials and civil society experts who are guiding the development of the Post-2015 framework. This agenda can go a long way in transforming the lives of women and girls worldwide, so we’re directing many of our messages to him this week. Putting gender equality at the center of a post-2015 framework can lead to greater social, ecological, and economic justice for all. A few of the issues we’d like Podesta to draw attention to are:

• Treating women and girls’ reproductive rights—including access to contraception,  safe abortion and maternal health care—as fundamental human rights
• Guaranteeing women’s rights to participate in leadership, decision-making and political participation, and enabling this by providing girls with basic skills and a quality education
• Measuring our progress towards ending early and forced marriage
• Addressing violence against women

We hope you’ll join us in asking John Podesta to make sure these issues, which will affect the lives and futures of all the world’s women, are central in the post-2015 agenda. Join the conversation on Twitter.

In his opening remarks, Babatunde Osotimehin, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), emphasized the rights of female migrants among the issues most important to UNFPA’s work. Osotimehin noted women and girls make up nearly half of all the estimated 214 million migrants worldwide. He continued:

Building a life in a new country can foster greater independence and  self-confidence, and create opportunities for the empowerment of women. However, breaking down established values and practices also creates tension and vulnerability. Moreover, all too often, female migration is accompanied by exploitation and abuse and trafficking across borders, especially in unregulated and informal sectors of the economy where women predominate. These women typically have limited or no access at all to health insurance and public services, including much needed reproductive health services.

This week, IWHC and other women’s rights groups will be focusing on several key issues as government delegations negotiate a resolution.

• Since a large percentage of the migrant population is of reproductive age, the CPD should ensure that women, men, and young people who migrate have access to sexual and reproductive health services, including contraception, evidence-based comprehensive sexuality education, safe abortion, and prevention, testing and treatment of sexually transmitted infections. Migrants often experience barriers to sexual and reproductive health services.
• Migration can empower women and girls and offer them economic opportunities, but it can also be a process fraught with risk. Women and girls can experience exploitation and abuse while migrating, and in the host country. It’s critical the CPD make special provisions for the protection of female migrants against abusive labor conditions, and against sexual violence and exploitation.
• Women and girls may be migrating to leave an abusive marriage, or escape gender-based violence. Current conflicts in Syria and Congo, for example, have brought about fresh crises of rape being used as a weapon of war. For that reason, migration policies must pay particular attention to the situation of women and girls fleeing violence.
• Many migrants leave their homes to escape persecution because of real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. States must put in place mechanisms to ensure these persons can seek refuge in a new country.
• Finally, we’ll be watching to make sure that governments respect and promote the human rights of all and provide health and social services to all, regardless of migration or national status.

IWHC staff will be at the UN this week, so watch the #CPD46 hashtag on Twitter for our live updates.

Last summer, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon established the High-Level Panel (HLP), a group of 27 international government officials and civil society experts, to guide the development of the Post-2015 framework. The HLP recently convened in Bali for a meeting before they submit recommendations to Ban in May. Along with more than 100 youth delegates, I participated in a parallel youth multistakeholder meeting, which included an outreach event with key players such as High Level Panelist John Podesta of the Center for American Progress and Homi Kharas of the Brookings Institute.

In preparation for our meeting with the HLP, we were tasked with the impossible: to distill the vision and priorities of young people, all 3.5 billion of us, into a tidy presentation on what we hope to see in the next development framework. Compelled by this rare opportunity to provide direct inputs into what continues to be a frustratingly inaccessible process, we managed to catalog what matters most to young people, drawing on our own discussions as well as outcomes from prior and ongoing post-2015 youth meetings. Gender equality and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) emerged as areas of strong thematic consensus.

The Youth Communiqué, which documents the outcomes of the Bali youth meeting, calls for a transformative and transparent new development agenda, and includes strong language on inclusion and rights.  We also call for a number of commitments to gender equality and SRHR, including universal access to quality education (including Comprehensive Sexuality Education) and youth-friendly health services, a commitment to gender equality, the elimination of gender-based violence and the recognition of young people’s diverse sexual orientations and gender identities.

Inclusion was a striking theme of this meeting.  As we discussed the need for meaningful youth participation on the whole, we highlighted the challenge of ensuring that the most marginalized young people are included in the next development agenda.  Drawing heavily on commitments made during the 2012 Global Youth Forum, we demanded the recognition of young people with disabilities, sex workers, indigenous youth, and young people living with HIV/AIDS as valued stakeholders in the Post-2015 Development Agenda process.

Upcoming events throughout the summer (including another HLP meeting in mid-May and the ICPD Regional Reviews) present immediate opportunities for young people to mobilize yet again.  We must use these opportunities not only to further define our asks and non-negotiables, but also to continue challenging the limited and often superficial opportunities for meaningful youth participation. The fight is far from over. It’s crucial that we build on the momentum from Bali to claim this agenda as our own. 

We are now looking to our new head of State, John Kerry, and the second term of the Obama administration to continue advocating for and implementing existing policies on these issues throughout U.S. foreign policy and foreign assistance.

To demonstrate mass public support for policies and programs that will allow women and girls to be healthy, empowered, educated and safe, IWHC joined a coalition of groups, including Half the Sky, Girls Not Brides and many others, to tell Sec. Kerry and other key decisionmakers that the work for women and girls is far from done.

Starting this week and through June, we’ll focus on eight different issues that impact the lives of women and girls—such as education, health, violence, early and forced marriage, human rights, and economic empowerment—as part of the 50 Days of Action for Women and Girls Campaign. Each week will focus on a different issue, and we’ll be hosting Twitter chats with experts in the field to answer your questions about what more can be done to advance this agenda.

Thanks to many of you who signed up for our Thunderclap, our #usa4women tweet will go out tomorrow at 12 PM EDT. Our next Thunderclap, with the #usa4girls hashtag, will go out on May 20; we’ll be mobilizing attention around the issue of ending early and forced marriage. Watch our Facebook page and Twitter feed to learn how you can help!

After she left Planned Parenthood Indonesia, Ninuk worked independently and focused on training and supporting others to become counselors. She has done this work in Iran, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Ghana, South Africa, and other places as well. Among her trainees are many college students who were trained as volunteer peer educators who would talk to young people both in school and out of school about sexual and reproductive health.

Along the way, it became very clear that it was necessary to have a law in Indonesia that would protect women and make it possible for women to access abortion services. Eleven people–activists, psychologists, and ob-gyns–came together to create the YKP Womens’ Health Foundation. They decided to only focus on two things: fighting to have legal protections for reproductive health and especially access to safe and legal abortion services and empowering the community, especially the young generation, to access health services and information. When they first launched the organization, they realized that they needed to gather evidence to support their advocacy for better national policy and to understand the needs and demand for sexual and reproductive health services and information.

In 2009, a new health law was passed in Indonesia, with a section on reproductive health. The law says that abortion can only be accessed by women who are rape survivors or if there is a health risk for the woman. There are of course many shortcomings of the law, but it is big progress for Indonesia. Read our analysis of the law from just after it was passed. Today, YKP is working to ensure that the law is implemented in a useful way. Ninuk is currently working on implementing pre- and post-counseling support for women who need an abortion, to make sure that abortion care services are as comprehensive and woman-centered as possible under the current law.