International Protecting Girls by Preventing Child Marriage Act of 2010

Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, today, with the passage of the International Protecting Girls by Preventing Child Marriage Act, the Senate takes a step toward ending child marriage.

Child marriage is often carried out through force or coercion. It deprives young girls, and sometimes boys, of their dignity and human rights. And it poses grave health risks. In some countries, it is not uncommon for girls as young as 7 or 8 years old to be married.

Child marriage also undermines U.S. foreign assistance to developing countries. We invest in education and skills-building for girls, improving maternal and child health, ending the transmission of HIV/AIDS, preventing gender-based violence, and reducing poverty. But where the girls targeted for assistance are married, these development strategies only go so far.

UNICEF estimates that 60 million girls in developing countries now ages 20 to 24 were married under the age of 18. The Population Council estimates that the number will increase by 100 million over the next decade if trends continue.

The International Protecting Girls by Preventing Child Marriage Act seeks to reverse those trends. Thanks to Senator Olympia Snowe and 41 other cosponsors from both sides of the aisle, the leadership of Senators John Kerry and Richard Lugar on the Foreign Relations Committee, and Representatives Betty McCollum and Ander Crenshaw in the House for supporting the legislation to make ending child marriage a priority in foreign affairs.

I would also like to thank The Elders, a group of world leaders including Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, and President Jimmy Carter, who work together to address major causes of human suffering around the globe. Their help and persistence on the legislation have been invaluable.

The human rights community has rightly identified the practice of child marriage as a major concern that treats young girls as property and traps them in a life of servitude. It denies girls educational and economic opportunities, sustaining a cycle of poverty in some of the world's poorest countries.

Many child brides live their lives in crushing hopelessness. Some are driven to attempt suicide to escape their misery.

A recent New York Times article entitled, ``For Afghan Wives, a Desperate, Fiery Way Out,'' shared the story of Farzana, engaged at 8 and married by 12. By the age of 17, she had endured years of verbal and physical abuse from her husband and his family.

She thought of ways to get out. She thought of running away but worried it would offend her family's sense of honor.

Finally, seeing no other way out and desperate, Farzana doused herself in cooking fuel and lit herself on fire.

Before this hell, Farzana had dreamed of becoming a teacher. Now, after 57 days in the hospital and multiple skin grafts, she has recovered from burns that covered more than half of her body.

Today she says, ``Five years I spent in his house with those people. My
marriage was for other people. They should never have given me in a child marriage.'' Unfortunately, in many parts of the world, stories like these are common. Except, unlike Farzana, many succeed in killing themselves. Young girls in the developing world should not be made to face the choice between life as a child bride without hope or dying at their own hands to escape their torment.

In addition to denying tens of millions of women and girls their dignity, child marriage also endangers their health. Marriage at an early age puts girls at greater risk of dying as a result of childbirth. Pregnancy and childbirth complications are the leading cause of death for women 15 to 19 years old in developing countries. Their children also face higher mortality rates.

In September 2009, a highly publicized example of this occurred in Yemen. A 12-year-old girl died of severe bleeding after three agonizing days in labor. Her child died as well. She was married to a 24-year old man. Child brides are also at an increased risk of contracting a sexually transmitted disease, including HIV and AIDS.

The bill we passed today would require our government to develop an integrated, strategic approach to combating child marriage with the goal of eliminating this scourge worldwide. It authorizes assistance to prevent child marriage in developing countries and to promote the educational, health, economic, social and legal empowerment of girls and women. It would require priority for regions in developing countries with a high prevalence of child marriage.

The bill also would require the Federal Government to do a better job of tracking child marriage prevalence overseas.

In the Senate today, we take a big step toward helping children we will never meet in places we will never visit. There are some issues we must look at through the shared experience of humanity. Ensuring that children throughout the world do not have their childhoods robbed of them is one such issue.

The United States has always tried to be a leader in international human rights. By passing this bill, the Senate shows its determination to keep the United States at the forefront of human rights protection around the world.

I urge my colleagues in the House to work with Representatives McCollum and Crenshaw and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman and Ranking Member Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Speaker Pelosi to do the same.

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