Child Marriage in an Era of Polycrisis Every year, 12 million girls in the world are married off illegally or in an attempt to legalise the status quo, under the name of tradition or belief, under the pretext of consent, or through overt coercion. It is estimated that 650 million women and girls and 115 million men and boys are married before the age of 18. If no measures are taken, it is estimated that 950 million people will be married as children by 2030 and 1.2 billion by 2050. Global crises such as pandemics, conflict, occupation and wars, migration and displacement, and climate change violate the rights of girls as well as all vulnerable groups. The COVID-19 pandemic alone added 10 million more cases of child marriage to the statistics. Most importantly, these crises roll back hard-won gains. Capitalist patriarchy and deepening gender inequality in all areas of life are the two biggest obstacles to the realisation of women's human rights, including child, early and forced marriage. Because from economic depressions to the climate crisis, from conflicts to all forms of discrimination, these are the two factors that set back human rights at the global level today. [1] Child, early and forced marriage is a global human rights violation that encompasses a range of practices involving the marriage of children below the age of consent, often against their will and without their informed consent. It negatively affects many aspects of the right to an equal, free, dignified, healthy and safe life, including the right to education, protection from violence and access to sexual and reproductive health services. The United Nations classifies child marriage as a practice that disproportionately affects girls and is a consequence of gender inequality, reflecting deeply entrenched social norms that devalue girls and women, often prioritising familial or economic interests over the welfare of the child. [2] As emphasised in the Joint General Recommendation No. 31 of the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and No. 18 of the Committee on the Rights of the Child on Harmful Practices and General Recommendation No. 32 of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, ‘harmful practices are rooted in discrimination based on sex, gender, age and other grounds and are often legitimised by appealing to socio-cultural and faith-based traditions and values, as well as misperceptions of women and children from certain disadvantaged groups’. In these documents, child, early and forced marriages, which are among the harmful practices ‘endemic among a wide range of communities in many countries of the world’, are defined as violations of the right to the child, violence against children, gender-based violence, discrimination and crimes against humanity. [1] Quoted from Flying Broom Association’s Atlas of Child Marriages (2024). [2] United Nations, Human Rights Report, 2020 8