Every year, millions of girls in Guinea see their childhood and rights violated due to forced marriages. But brave young girls are standing up to make a change. Discover how the Young Girls Leaders Club of Guinea, with the support of Plan International, defends girls’ rights and fights this harmful practice.
Every year, millions of girls in Guinea see their childhood and rights violated due to forced marriages. But brave young girls are standing up to make a change. Discover how the Young Girls Leaders Club of Guinea, with the support of Plan International, defends girls’ rights and fights this harmful practice.
In Guinea, one million girls are threatened by early marriage. On Friday, August 17, girls from the Young Girls Leaders Club of Guinea were received by the Prime Minister of their country. The activists, aged 14 to 20, pleaded with the authorities to end early and forced marriages. They succeeded in convincing them to accelerate the revision of the child code, aiming to raise the legal marriage age for girls from 16 to 18.
The marriage of underage girls remains a deeply rooted practice within Guinean society. 63% of married women aged 20 to 24 were married before the age of 18. In rural areas, this rate rises to over 75%. One million adolescent girls are currently threatened by this scourge, exposing them to the risk of violence and sexual assault. Girls married at such a young age find themselves deprived of their childhood and right to education. Forced to leave school to become mothers and take care of the household, they are no longer free to choose their own lives.
It is to fight against these terrible consequences that the Young Girls Leaders Club of Guinea was founded in 2016. Today, nearly a hundred activists are carrying the fight and the voice of girls throughout Guinea. The association conducts prevention and awareness-raising actions on the ground. Through reports, they manage to annul dozens of underage marriages each year. Guinea’s girl leaders also denounce the dangers of early marriage to families and young girls. They have recently launched an awareness-raising caravan that travels through the markets of the capital, Conakry, to meet with residents.
