CFR Launches Interactive Guide on Child Marriage

A new interactive guide from the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) examines the threat that child marriage poses both to the prosperity and stability of the countries in which it is prevalent and to U.S. development and foreign policy interests. "Child marriage is linked to poor health, curtailed education, violence, and instability, and perpetuates an intergenerational cycle of poverty that is difficult to break, as the InfoGuide shows," said CFR Fellow for Women and Foreign Policy Rachel B. Vogelstein, formerly director of policy and senior adviser on global women’s issues at the U.S. State Department. "Its effects harm not only girls but entire families, communities, and economies—and U.S. interests around the world."

The "Child Marriage" InfoGuide includes

• a video overview featuring insights from Vogelstein as well as Isobel Coleman, CFR senior fellow and director of the Civil Society, Markets, and Democracy initiative and the Women and Foreign Policy program; Laura Laski, UN Population Fund chief of sexual and reproductive health; Nice Nailante Leng’ete, an anti–female genital mutilation advocate in the Maasai community; and Donald Steinberg, CEO of World Learning;
• an interactive map that surveys child marriage prevalence and maternal mortality rates;
• profiles of five countries where child marriage is common: India, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Niger, and Guatemala;
• a video examining the varying definitions of who is a child; and
• policy options that could curb the practice of child marriage.

The "Child Marriage" InfoGuide follows the series’ inaugural interactive, "China’s Maritime Disputes." It is a major addition to CFR’s interactive offerings, which include the Emmy Award–winning Crisis Guides and the Global Governance Monitor. InfoGuides utilize a responsive design for use on tablets and mobile devices. Various multimedia sections are embeddable, including the map, slideshow, and infographics.

The CFR.org multimedia team developed the InfoGuide in partnership with Phase 2 Technology. It was made possible by funding from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The Ford Foundation also contributed to CFR’s Women and Foreign Policy program’s research on child marriage.

View "Child Marriage" InfoGuide at http://www.cfr.org/childmarriage.