What Role Can Parliamentarians Play in Ending Child Marriage?

This toolkit aims to provide concrete examples and recommendations on how interested parliamentarians can take action to end child marriage. Developed by Girls Not Brides, it seeks to raise awareness about child marriage among parliamentarians, explore why it is an issue, and offer practical ways they can take action to end the practice.

As explained in the toolkit, parliamentarians can play a crucial role in ending child marriage. They can "lead the development of relevant legislation and policies, set the political agenda as opinion leaders on ending child marriage, pass budgets, monitor implementation, and ensure accountability for both national and international commitments, including government accountability to target 5.3 of the Sustainable Development Goals to end child marriage by 2030. They can guarantee the voices of citizens are heard, particularly the voice of the girl child, in order to mobilise political will and commitment to end child marriage."

In order to increase involvement of parliamentarians, the guide offers the following:

• An overview of child marriage, including its global prevalence, causes, and impact;
• Existing international legal instruments that prohibit child, early, and forced marriage; and
• Concrete examples and recommendations on how parliamentarians can take action, not only in Parliament but in their constituencies and internationally.

More specifically, the toolkit offers the following chapters:

• Introduction
• About child marriage: definitions and global prevalence
• Causes and impact of child marriage
• Child marriage and the law
• The role of parliamentarians in ending child marriage

1. Advocate for the adoption, strengthening and implementation of laws and policies on child marriage
2. Support implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals including target 5.3 to end child marriage by 2030
3. Budget for ending child marriage
4. Be accountable and demand accountability
5. Collaborate with others and be opinion leaders

• Annexes

1. International legal instruments relevant to child marriage
2. Sample questions to ask key decision-makers
3. Sample social media messages
4. Useful resources
5. Reports: child marriage and the law

Girls not Brides is also encouraging civil society organisations to reach out to their parliamentarians and have developed "A Brief User Guide for Girls Not Brides Members to Engage with Parliamentarians", which can be downloaded here.