Human Rights & Public Liberties

Human Rights & Public Liberties

Newsletter
Published on: 13 Jan, 2021

Child Rights

Published on: 27 December, 2020

Dola Akhter is a teenage child rights activist who has been speaking against child marriages in Bangladesh.

She and her team have stopped more than 600 child marriages in the country over the last two years.

Dola was invited by the UN to speak on behalf of the girls and share her success story in 2019.

The UN and NGOs have warned that financial insecurity caused by COVID-19 could lead to a dramatic rise in child marriage.

In April the UN Population Fund warned that 13 million more child marriages could take place over the next decade because of COVID.

More than 50% of girls in Bangladesh are married before their 18th birthday and 22% are married before they turn 15, according to the anti-child marriage NGO Girls Not Brides.