Act now or face 100 more years of child marriage, OECD warns
The world will also miss the goal of eradicating female genital mutilation by 2030, the OECD says in its Social Institutions and Gender Index
London — A study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) found global rates of child marriage were declining so slowly the world would miss a target of eradicating the practice by 2030 by many decades. It will also miss a goal of eradicating female genital mutilation (FGM) by that date, the OECD said in its Social Institutions and Gender Index (Sigi). “Progress in eliminating both practices is too slow as people, including women sometimes, are not ready to abandon them,” the OECD said in a statement e-mailed to the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “Raising awareness should be a key priority of gender-sensitive policies.” Researchers said governments in affected countries need to do more to change the social attitudes that favour FGM and child marriage. In Burkina Faso, for example, 44% of the population thinks a girl should be married before she is 18. “To make real progress on this issue we need to address its root cause,” said Lakshmi Sundaram, executive di...
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