But yet, Bangladesh has the highest rate of child marriage among the south Asian countries.
At present, he is working for the elimination of child marriage by the year 2030.
These include forced marriage, wife-transfer, child marriage and the sale of children for labour.
In fact, the persistence of child marriage has hindered Africa's efforts to achieve six of the eight Millennium Development Goals.
That's why it is so crucial that we tackle child marriage head on in the forthcoming Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
They have no idea about the likely consequences of child marriage, and so it's a cycle that continues.
She now campaigns locally against child marriage and has helped girls in her community to avoid early marriage.
The fight against child marriage, the struggle against the exploitation of children, often have intervened successfully in community affairs.
We have also seen civil society mobilizing across the continent especially in reaching out to the communities where child marriage is prevalent.
Child marriage robs girls of their education, their health and their future.
Without major progress on this issue, the number of child brides will double by 2050 and child marriage will continue to hamper Africa's development.
The act of creating "child marriage-free zones" reminds us that even in 2013 patriarchs still attempt to dictate their daughters' destinies.
Hall says access to education and law enforcement, in addition to greater community cooperation, are key to changing attitudes to child marriage.
Too often we allow girls to be excluded from school without much complaint, and we continue to tolerate child labor and child marriage.
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This week, the African Union is hosting a summit at which we hope African Heads of State will adopt a common African position on child marriage.
Building awareness through films like "Girl Rising" that pressure governments to implement laws against child marriage and educating communities like World Vision does in Bangladesh.
Child marriage rates are also higher in refugee and IDP (Internally Displaced People) camps, where girls are encouraged to marry early to safeguard their virginity.
At the core of each plan should be strategies for policing an end to child labor, enforcing laws against child marriage, and clamping down on discrimination against girls.
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Another critical step we must take is ending child marriage.
In times of insecurity, the comfort of tradition outweighs legislation -- and while many countries have laws in place to prevent child marriage, Hall says enforcement is weak or non-existent.
Over a century the age of consent in India has been raised from 10 to 18 reacting mainly to concerns over child marriage, and much later over rape and teenage pregnancies.
It has empowered civil society organizations to demand that governments respect women's human rights and to adopt policies to limit sex trafficking, domestic violence, child marriage and discrimination in the workplace.
This year, the theme for the day is ending child marriage in Africa, and it represents a timely call to end a practice that devastates the lives of millions of girls across the continent.
When Afghanistan enacted its Elimination of Violence Against Women law in 2009, it criminalized child marriage, selling and buying women to settle disputes, assault and a few more acts of violence against women.
Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland calls for ending discriminatory practices such as child marriage, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu points out the important role of men and boys in achieving gender equality for girls and women.
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Child marriage is an issue which affects girls in almost every country on the continent to a greater or lesser extent -- ten of the fifteen countries worldwide with the highest rates of child marriage are in Africa.
According to "Untying the Knot, " a new report from World Vision, child marriage increases in times of conflict and disaster, when fear pushes parents to marry their daughters early in order to ensure their safety and security.
Catholic elders in Calcutta say Bishop Gomes is carrying out what they described as an "experiment worth trying", but they were not sure whether the time was right to start a drive against child marriage across West Bengal.
Countries like Niger, Somalia and Bangladesh -- destabilized by drought and food shortages -- have some of the highest rates of child marriage in the world, according to the report, and Halls says climate change will only make matters worse.
After a slow start, the Elders have started to show that with the right back-office support, a group of political big beasts can work effectively together, whether behind the scenes (peacemaking in Cyprus, Kenya and Sudan, for instance) or publicly, with their campaign against child marriage.
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