Girls Not Brides, a global partnership of 500+ civil society organizations committed to ending child marriage, recently interviewed Jeanne Smoot, Tahirih Senior Counsel for Policy and Strategy, about Tahirih’s campaign to end child marriage in the United States.
-
Few people associate the United States with child marriage, a practice which affects 15 million girls every year.
That is why it may have come as a surprise to many when, last October, The New York Times reported on “America’s child marriage problem” and the legal campaign that Unchained at Last and Tahirih Justice Center are leading to prevent child marriage in the country.
As the campaign gains momentum, we spoke to Fraidy Reiss, Founder and Director of Unchained at Last who herself escaped a forced marriage, and Jeanne Smoot, Senior Counsel for Policy and Strategy at Tahirih Justice Center, about child marriage in the United States and how close we are to ending it.
Featured Image: Jeanne Smoot, Fraidy Reiss, and advocates delivered a petition to end child marriage in the U.S. to the White House Council on Women and Girls in March 2015.
