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UNICEF and UNFPA have joined forces to launch the Global Programme to Accelerate Action to End Child Marriage. The Global Programme will:

  • Empower adolescent girls at risk of, and affected by, marriage.
  • Work with families and communities to promote positive behaviours towards girls.
  • Ensure that health, education, protection and other systems are responsive to the needs of girls.
  • Support governments in creating a positive legal and policy environment in relation to child marriage.
  • Use and build the data and evidence on what works to end child marriage.

Nepal has one of the highest rates of child marriage in Asia – for both girls and boys. Although the legal age of unions for both sexes is 20, more than a third of young women aged 20-24 report that they were married by the age of 18, and just over one in ten by 15.