Our Mission
Action on Child, Early and Forced Marriage is a Geneva-based international non-profit association dedicated to advancing awareness, research and education on child and forced marriage and related traditional practices.
What We Do
The UN
As an organisation, our aim is to create strong links between grass roots NGOs and international organisations in Geneva to encourage change. We work with the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights, attend sessions of the Human Rights Council, the Committee on the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC). We were invited by the Swiss Government to speak on child marriage with Dr. Dubravka Simonovic, the Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, to mark the 10th Anniversary of the Human Rights Council in Geneva and have participated in a CEDAW briefing on child widows. To strengthen this work, we collaborate with the International Council of Women, which has national Chapters in 64 countries and whom we represent at the UN in Geneva.
Geneva Missions
In Geneva, we endeavour to obtain Government Missions’ involvement and support in our efforts to eradicate child, early and forced marriage, and this has led to the successful adoption of resolutions on the topic.
In July, we attended a gathering of Ambassadors, NGOs and the public in an event to celebrate one hundred years of Nelson Mandela, hosted by Her Excellency, Ms. Nozipho Joyce Mxakato-Diseko, Permanent Representative of the Republic of South Africa to the UN. ACE&FM has also participated in side event panels during Human Rights Council sessions in Geneva with the Ambassador of Sierra Leone, the Deputy Permanent Representative of Canada and the African Union’s Ambassador Against Child Marriage, all of whose involvement is critical to our work.
NGO Partners
We collaborate with many Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in Geneva, Vienna, New York and around the world to amplify our advocacy efforts for social change, including the World Council of Churches and coalitions such as Child Rights Connect.
We have recently published a report entitled “Practical Guidance for Supporting Child Widows” after conducting research to fill the gap in knowledge revealed by our previous report “Millions of Child Widows Invisible, Forgotten and Vulnerable” published in July 2018. The 2018 report was presented at the 38th Human Rights Council, a briefing to the CEDAW Committee, the Indonesian Women's Conference in Jogyakarta, the Global Consultation of the World Council of Churches in Kingston, Jamaica, a seminar during the European Parliament in Brussels and the Afro-European Medical and Research Network.