From Walk Free

Girls aged 15 and younger are being married to older men in Niger.

“After the wedding, he wanted to have sex with me, but I refused… He beat me and gagged me so he could get what he wanted.” Zeinabou, married in Niger at just 15 years old.[1] Fati Yahaya at just 20 has been married twice, divorced once, and suffered a postpartum hemorrhage after the birth of her first child.[2]

Help demand the Nigerien Government outlaw child marriage.

Three-quarters of girls in Niger are married before they are adults.[3] The age of consent is currently set at 15 years old, or earlier with parental permission. Thousands of young girls like Zeinabou and Fati face a life of abuse and unrealised potential.

Child marriage often amounts to slavery: when girls haven’t given consent, or are controlled, exploited and unable to leave. Outlawing it is an important step towards protecting children in Niger.

Call on Niger’s President to help outlaw child marriage and support young women to become leaders in their communities.

President Mahamadou Issoufou has publicly declared his intent to invest in programs to reduce the prevalence of early marriages. But the country has failed to adopt a proposed law to change the legal marriage age to 18 for girls.

Your support now could be the difference between a life of servitude or a life of empowerment for girls in Niger.

With hope,

Joanna and the Walk Free team

WALK FREE.ORG

Image copyright of ILRI/Stevie Mann: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ilri

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