It is really appalling when we look at the statistics. We know that, globally, there are about 700 million women alive today who were married as children. According to the UNICEF report, “The State of the World’s Children”, there are 50 million girls who are married each year, and one in three girls is married before the age of 18.
I think, what we found really compelling is the link between child, early, and forced marriage, and maternal, newborn, and child health. When we look at the complications that occur during pregnancy, we find that the complications for pregnancy and childbirth are a leading cause of death for girls in the developing world, and many of them are married young. Stillbirths and newborn deaths are also much more prevalent among young girls.
We know that if we keep girls in school, we will delay marriage, delay the first pregnancy, and also delay death during childbirth. These are significant things that can be done.
In terms of programming, Canada has worked a lot over the past couple of years to attract attention to this issue, both through the multilateral system and through UN resolutions. Recently, in the fall of 2014, the first substantive resolution was adopted by the UN General Assembly, and as I mentioned, it was unanimous. This is something that Canada co-led with Zambia, and we're really proud of that collaboration with Zambia.
What we have found is that, in addition to the multilateral advances to bring attention to the issue, we also need to have targeted programming, so we have started having targeted programming over the last couple of years. What we try to do is prevent the practice of child, early, and forced marriage, but we also help girls who are already married, and make sure to provide them with the support they need.
We work with countries to develop the legislation that is needed. But we know that you can have legislation in place and the practice will still continue, so we also work with communities by empowering them to make the change. It's a complex issue. It's one that involves both our human rights and development approaches, but it is one that is definitely worth continuing to work on.
If any of you have had the privilege of hearing one of those young girls talk about this, it's heartbreaking. In terms of Canadian values, we feel we really need to continue our efforts and redouble what we're doing.