The Human Rights Council of the United Nations today (2 July 2015) adopted by consensus the first substantive Resolution on Strengthening Efforts to Prevent and Eliminate Child, Early and Forced Marriage. This marks a significant advance in the protection of human rights and individual freedoms.
Early and forced marriages a violation of human rights, especially those of women and girls
Italy, along with Sierra Leone, co-chaired the negotiations on the text of the Resolution, which reiterates that early and forced marriages are a violation of human rights, especially those of women and girls. The Resolution underscores the importance of involving society as a whole and calls on actors in the humanitarian sector to strengthen monitoring and prevention efforts against early and forced marriage.
Italy has been a member since 2013 of the trans-regional group of countries opposed to this practice. The active role played by our country to eliminate early and forced marriage, and our campaign against female genital mutilation, confirm the priority given by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation to the rights of children, especially girls. Today’s achievement was the result of the efforts of Italian diplomacy to reach consensus on this issue through an inclusive dialogue with partners in all of the regional groups.
