Sherry Johnson was 11 and pregnant when she was forced to marry her adult rapist. Not in some faraway, developing country. In Florida.
Shockingly, marriage before 18 is legal in all 50 U.S. states – but we at Unchained At Last are working to change that, as Nicholas Kristof explained in a New York Times column over the weekend.
“For almost all of them [unwilling child brides], marriage means rape on their wedding night and thereafter,” as our executive director, Fraidy Reiss, told Kristof.
Unchained is excited to report that it has been granted special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Unchained joins more than 4,500 NGOs around the world that are in active consultative status with ECOSOC.
Consultative status provides Unchained with access to not only ECOSOC, but also to its many subsidiary bodies, the various human-rights mechanisms of the United Nations and special events organized by the president of the General Assembly.
This access allows Unchained to influence and raise awareness of forced and child marriage among key international decision makers.
Gov. Chris Christie did something reprehensible: He conditionally vetoed A3091, the bill we at Unchained helped to write to end child marriage in New Jersey. The bill that passed overwhelmingly in both houses of the legislature. The bill that would have made New Jersey the first state to eliminate a human-rights abuse that primarily affects girls.
This calls for a protest.
We urge you to Chain-In with us in Trenton on Thursday, June 1. At the same time, we’ll coordinate walkouts at high schools across the state, so the children directly affected by Christie’s outrageous act can show their displeasure.
We’ll gather outside the New Jersey statehouse wearing bridal gowns and veils, with our arms chained and mouths taped, to protest Christie’s love of child marriage. Click here and complete the form on to register for the Chain-In (which is a free event) and to let us know:
Click here to contact Unchained about organizing a walkout at your school.
Together, we’ll send a powerful message to legislators: #OverrideChristie. End child marriage in New Jersey.
Unchained is grateful that Girls Not Brides granted permission for protesters at the Chain-In to sing “We Are Girls, Not Brides,” a haunting song written by girls in Zambia. Click on the image below to watch the girls in Zambia perform “We Are Girls, Not Brides.”
Child marriage – or marriage before age 18 – is a human-rights abuse that undermines girls’ health, education and economic opportunities and increases their risk of experiencing violence. Often, too, child marriage is forced marriage: Children can easily be forced into or trapped within a marriage, because they cannot easily access legal and other resources.
Yet marriage before 18 is legal in all 50 US states, and many thousands of children were married in the U.S. in the last decade. In New Jersey alone, some 2,000 children as young as 13 were married between 2000 and 2014 – mostly girls wed to adult men. And forced marriage happens to adults too, but the US has long lagged behind other countries in acknowledging and responding to this human rights abuse.
The solution? Unchained started and now leads a growing national movement to end child marriage in the US, state by state, by writing, introducing and passing legislation to eliminate marriage before age 18.
Join the movement. Chain-In with us to grab the attention of policymakers and the public, and help end child marriage in America.
Read more here about Unchained’s past Chain-Ins.
Q: I don’t have a bridal gown and veil. What should I do?
A: No problem. Wear a white top, and indicate when you register that you want Unchained to loan you a free veil and a free gown you can wear over your own clothing or instead of it. (You are encouraged to wear a gown and veil regardless of your gender identity.)
Q: I prefer not to wear bridal clothing and/or not to chain my arms or tape my mouth. May I still join the Chain-In?
A: Absolutely!
Q: Should I bring my own chains and tape?
A: No, do not bring your own chains and tape. Unchained will provide free plastic chains and comfortable tape.
Q: Is this legal?
A: Yes, the Chain-In is completely legitimate. Unchained has the backing of the First Amendment and a permit from the New Jersey State Police.
Q: How much does it cost to join the Chain-In?
A: Joining the Chain-In is free – but please consider donating to Unchained to help offset the cost of the Chain-In and to help women and girls across the U.S. who are fleeing forced marriages. If you take the bus Unchained is arranging from Westfield to the Chain-In, the round trip costs $30.
Q: Where is the exact Chain-In location?
A: The Chain-In will be held in front of the Statehouse annex (125 W State Street in Trenton).
Q: What time does the Chain-In begin and end?
A: Please arrive at 11:30 a.m. to sign in and get into Chain-In attire. The actual Chain-In will begin 12 p.m. and end around 1 p.m. (If you take the bus from Westfield, it will leave 10 a.m. from the Westfield train station on North Avenue.)
Q: Will the Chain-In proceed in case of bad weather?
A: The protest will proceed unless officials declare a state of emergency.
Q: How else can I help end child and forced marriage?
A: Whether or not you can join the Chain-In, please take these steps:
This Chain-In is made possible by generous supporters including:
Were you among the some 20 protesters who joined Unchained At Last for a Chain-In in Boston on May 11, 2017 – dressed in bridal gowns and veils, with arms chained and mouths taped – to send a powerful message to legislators: Pass S785/H2310 and end child marriage in Massachusetts?
Photo credit for first 17 photos: Susan Landmann
Photo credit for last 3 photos: Tira Khan
The Chain-In drew a large crowd of onlookers and garnered significant media attention. Here are links to some of the news stories:
The activists who addressed the crowd at the the Chain-In included:
Read here about Unchained’s past Chain-Ins.
Child marriage – or marriage before age 18 – is a human-rights abuse that undermines girls’ health, education and economic opportunities and increases their risk of experiencing violence. Often, too, child marriage is forced marriage: Children can easily be forced into or trapped within a marriage, because they cannot easily access legal and other resources.
Yet marriage before 18 is legal in all 50 US states, and many thousands of children were married in the U.S. in the last decade. In Massachusetts alone, some 1,190 children as young as 14 were married between 2000 and 2014 – mostly girls wed to adult men. And forced marriage happens to adults too, but the US has long lagged behind other countries in acknowledging and responding to this human rights abuse.
The solution? Unchained started and now leads a growing national movement to end child marriage in the US, state by state, by writing, introducing and passing legislation to eliminate marriage before age 18.
Join the movement. Chain-In with us at a future Chain-In to grab the attention of policymakers and the public, and help end child marriage in America.
Imagine a crowd of people dressed in bridal gowns and veils, with their arms chained and mouths taped, standing on the steps of the Massachusetts State House to protest child marriage.
Now imagine you’re one of them.
Join us at Unchained At Last for our next Chain-In on May 11 in Boston. Be among the survivors, legislators and activists who send a powerful message: Pass S785/H2310, the bill to end child marriage in Massachusetts.
May 11 | 11:30 a.m.
Steps of Mass. State House (Boston)
Gowns, veils, chains and tape provided by Unchained
REGISTRATION IS FREE AND EASY
Speakers include:
Ending Child Marriage in America
We at Unchained started and now lead a growing national movement to end child marriage in America. We are working to draft, introduce and pass legislation to that effect, state by state.
Currently marriage before 18 is legal in all 50 U.S. states. However, children can easily be forced into marriage or forced to stay in a marriage before they become legal adults, because they face overwhelming legal and practical barriers if they try to leave home, access a shelter, retain an attorney or bring a legal action. Further, the impacts of marriage before 18 on a girl’s life are devastating enough that the U.S. State Department considers such marriage a “human rights abuse.”
Our groundbreaking research showed an estimated 248,000 children at least as young as 12 were married in the U.S. between 2000 and 2010 – mostly girls wed to adult men.
To build support for legislation to end child marriage, Unchained writes op-eds like the recent one in the Washington Post; hosts Chain-Ins like this one to protest forced and child marriage; gives regular media interviews; and presents at conferences and other venues.
We’re seeing progress. Bills we’ve helped to write and/or are helping to pass, that would end or reduce child marriage, now are pending in:
You can help end child marriage in America:
Thank You
This Chain-In is made possible by generous supporters including:
And now our work to end child marriage in the U.S. has spread to Pennsylvania, where Rep. Perry Warren today introduced HB 1038 to end all marriage before 18, without exceptions.
Kean University today gave Unchained’s founder/executive director, Fraidy Reiss, the Outstanding Human Rights Community Activist award. The award recognized Fraidy’s work to help women and girls escape forced marriages, and to end forced and child marriage in America.
How’s this for good news for girls and women? The legislation we helped to write to end child marriage has made its way to the West Coast, where California Sen. Jerry Hill today introduced a bill to end all marriage before 18.
Bills to end or limit child marriage now are pending in:
And Pennsylvania is about to join the list too.
Unchained’s leader, Fraidy Reiss, was featured today in a piece on PRI’s The World titled “Child brides are a little-known, but very real, problem in America today.”
Fraidy described her own abusive marriage, arranged for her when she was 19, and talked about her work to help other women and girls escape forced marriages.
“We’ve had clients from Jewish, Muslim and Christian backgrounds who are married as children,” she told The World. “And they have come from every socioeconomic level, from both multigenerational American families as well as immigrant families.”
Listen here to the full segment.
Last night our hard work paid off: The New Jersey senate voted 26-5 to pass the bill we helped to write – and spent a year and a half tirelessly promoting – to end child marriage. The assembly already passed the bill, which means that if the governor doesn’t kill it, New Jersey will become the first U.S. state to end all marriage before 18.
And it won’t be the last. We’re already working in Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri and New York to pass legislation to end or limit child marriage, and Pennsylvania is about to join that list.
And on Friday, Texas introduced a bill to end most marriage before 18, thanks to the advocacy of our ally, the Tahirih Justice Center.
Do your legislators and governor know you want them to end child marriage? Tell them by emailing them here.
Right now marriage before 18 is legal in all 50 U.S. states – even though children can easily be forced into marriage or forced to stay in a marriage before they become legal adults, and even though the impacts of marriage before 18 on a girl’s life are devastating enough that the U.S. State Department considers such marriage a “human rights abuse.”
We at Unchained started and now lead a growing national movement to eliminate child marriage in America. We are working to draft, introduce and pass legislation, state by state, to eliminate all marriage before 18 without exceptions.
To build support for this legislation, Unchained writes op-eds like this one published last month in the Washington Post (which garnered nearly a million unique views); hosts Chain-Ins to protest forced and child marriage; gives regular media interviews; and presents at conferences and other venues.
You can help end child marriage in America:
