Calls for Mayo public to support appeal to end child marriage

Elimination of child marriage and child labour are still decades away with an estimated 640 million girls and women married in childhood, and 138 million children aged 5–17 in child labour in 2024, according to ActionAid Ireland.

While the figures for child marriage and child labour are dropping, at current rates they won’t be low enough to fulfil the Sustainable Development Goals to end these practices by 2030, ActionAid Ireland CEO, Karol Balfe, said at the launch of its summer appeal.

Appealing to the people of Mayo to support the appeal, Ms. Balfe said progress on gender equality is uneven, with the poorest rural areas lagging far behind.

“At this rate elimination could take centuries, with the climate crisis and increased conflict driving poverty, rural isolation and lack of education and opportunities for women and girls,” said Ms Balfe.

“The problem of child marriage is of huge concern with an estimated 640 million women alive today married as children. Marriage before the age of 18 is a fundamental violation of human rights.

"This practice threatens the lives, wellbeing and futures of millions of girls around the world including in country where ActionAid works.”

She said the figures highlight the urgent need for targeted interventions—investing in education, economic empowerment, legal protections, and social services—to protect girls and women in the Global South from child marriage and gender-based violence.

Ms Balfe said ActionAid Ireland is calling on the public to support this urgent appeal which will help provide more safe spaces for women and girls, vocational training, and rights awareness programmes that protect girls from exploitation and give them choices.

“We know from experience that women and girls are the greatest drivers of change in their communities,” added Balfe. “We invite the Irish public to stand with them – to turn trauma into transformation.”

Ms. Balfe referred to the heartbreaking story of Tanuja, a young girl in Nepal who was trafficked into domestic slavery at the age of six.

Lured by false promises and the desperate poverty her family faced, Tanuja was handed over to strangers who claimed they would give her an education.

Instead, she endured ten years of physical abuse, forced labour, and isolation.

When she was 16, Tanuja escaped and made a dangerous journey back home. But her ordeal wasn’t over.

With no education and no income, she entered a child marriage and became a mother by 17.

“This is not just about one girl,” said Karol Balfe, CEO of ActionAid Ireland.

“Across Nepal where I visited recently and many parts of the world, young girls are exploited simply because of their gender and the poverty they are born into.

But with the support of Irish donors, we are helping girls like Tanuja find safety, access education, and build independent futures.”

Tanuja’s life changed when she joined an ActionAid-supported Safe Space – a women-led group where she found solidarity, counselling, and practical training.

Today, she is training as a tailor, earning part-time income and preparing to start a small poultry business.