Every day 39,000 underaged girls are forced into marriage – some as young as 8 years old, giving up their childhood and control over their own lives. They are being forced into often violent relationships and to give up their education, despite the fact that according to the UN it is illegal and a violation of human rights.
12 year-old Norwegian blogger prepares for wedding
A blog featuring the 12-year old Norwegian girl, Thea, who was about to be wedded of to a 25 years older man, created a massive stir in October 2014. Her wedding date was set to the 11th of October, UN´s International Day of the Girl Child.
The blog was named “Stopp Brylluppet” (Stop the Wedding), and showcased the young girl’s preparations for entering the way too soon meeting with the adult world.
The blog gave an an eye-opening reality check to more than 2.5 million readers, causing a massive mobilization throughout the globe to stop the marriage from happening.
Check out the blog here.
Only 7 hours after the blog was published the global aid organization, Plan Norway, received international headlines, as the media realized that the organization stood behind Thea’s blog, and was in fact a campaign from Plan Norway.
The intention of Thea`s blog was to put the cruel reality of the annual 14 million young child brides into a more familiar context that we normally associate with happiness and joyful future prospects.
Global campaign boosts awareness of child marriages
The prize-winning campaign eventually reached a billion people – inspiring and engaging people from all over the world to speak up against child marriages. The campaign video was viewed more than 30 million times. “Stopp brylluppet” also recently won the prestigious Platinum prize at the SABRE Awards 2015 in London. Check it out and get ready for a wake-up call!
Plan Norway will continue its fight against child marriages as long as there is a real “Thea” out there. So far the campaign has not only created an increased awareness of child marriages as well as massive media attention.. It has also boosted thousands of new Plan sponsors.
Annika Diseth Yri, responsible for partnerships in Plan Norway, became a Premium member of The Social Business Club to gain more experience within the field of CSR and to learn from other sectors and businesses how they put CSR into practice.
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