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(OPINION) On Dec. 19, 2011, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 66/170 and so declared Oct. 11 the International Day of the Girl Child. The day has since been used to affirm and promote girls’ rights and shed light on the unique challenges girls face around the world. The theme for the 2020 International Day of the Girl Child is “My Voice, Our Equal Future.” The campaign calls for girls to “live free from gender-based violence, harmful practices and HIV and AIDS; learn new skills towards the futures they choose; lead as a generation of activists accelerating social change.”

Girls should be allowed to be girls. Girls should not become brides before their age and before they can decide freely about their future. Girls should not be deprived of their freedom and removed from their families. Girls should not be raped and sexually abused. However, in many countries, even in 2020, girls, and especially girls from religious minority groups, continue to be abducted, forcibly converted and forcibly married to their abductors. Indeed, for example in Pakistan, researchers estimate that approximately 1,000 religious minority women and girls are subjected to such crimes every year, with this number a very conservative assessment. Similar cases, on a large scale, have been noted in many other countries, including Nigeria and Egypt. These numbers add up. Indeed, non-governmental organizations assess that, every year, 12 million girls marry before the age of 18. Over 650 million women were married as children.

Understandably, in each case the reasons for child marriage will be different, forced marriage, abduction and forced conversion are just one of the methods by which children are married. Independently, it is crucial to remember that child marriage has a significant effect on girls. When a girl is married, this often means that she will not be able to continue with her education. This deprives the girl of her future. Furthermore, according to research, child marriage has devastating consequences on a girl’s health. It has been stated that the leading cause of death in girls aged 15-19 globally, is pregnancy and childbirth. Child marriage is also a major violation of a girl’s human rights and can sometimes amount to a form of modern day slavery. While poverty may drive child marriage, child marriage traps girls in a cycle of poverty. Child marriage further puts girls at risk of physical and sexual abuse.

There should be enough reason to put an end to the practice of child marriage. Despite pledges to stop this practice, data suggests that we are still a long way from achieving this. Indeed, mere pledges made by world leaders are not enough. To end child, early and forced marriage, whole communities must be fully engaged. As the resolution establishing the International Day of the Girl Child states “empowering girls requires their active participation in decision-making processes and the active support and engagement of their parents, legal guardians, families and care providers, as well as boys and men and the wider community,” and so combating child, early and forced marriage requires the engagement of every member of society.

Ewelina U. Ochab is a legal researcher and human rights advocate, PhD candidate and author of the book “Never Again: Legal Responses to a Broken Promise in the Middle East” and more than 30 UN reports. She works on the topic of persecution of minorities around the world. This piece was re-published from Forbes with permission.