This story was submitted by Yemen Women Union as part of the Regional Action Forum's IDGC 2025 Campaign
This story was submitted by Yemen Women Union as part of the Regional Action Forum's IDGC 2025 Campaign.
Child marriage remains a critical and deeply rooted issue in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), particularly among communities facing ongoing violence, displacement, and economic hardship. Despite national efforts to raise the minimum legal age of marriage to 18, loopholes and inconsistent enforcement continue to place girls at risk. The escalation of violence and the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza and the West Bank have also further increased families’ reliance on early marriage as a coping mechanism.
11 October 2025 – Today, we celebrate the International Day of the Girl Child and its 2025 theme "The Girl I Am, The Change I Lead – Girls at the Frontlines of Crisis,"
Programming to prevent and respond to child marriage in humanitarian settings is vital to the health, safety and wellbeing of women and girls, but little documentation or evaluation of programmes and best practices exists to guide implementation.
UNICEF Innocenti undertook a study in five countries in the Middle East, speaking with more than 60 practitioners and policymakers to understand the challenges faced in designing and implementing child-marriage focused programming in complex and diverse humanitarian settings as well as the facilitators that enable effective programming.
On Wednesday, August 20, UNICEF MENA, UNFPA ASRO and RAF hosted the regional launch of their new study on child marriage in humanitarian settings entitled "Barriers and Facilitators to Programming: Delivering interventions to address child marriage in humanitarian settings in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen."
On Wednesday, August 20, UNICEF MENA, UNFPA ASRO and RAF hosted the regional launch of their new study on child marriage in humanitarian settings entitled "Barriers and Facilitators to Programming: Delivering interventions to address child marriage in humanitarian settings in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen."
Join us on Wednesday, August 20, at 15:00 (Amman time/GMT+3) for the regional launch of UNICEF-UNFPA's new study on child marriage in humanitarian settings entitled "Barriers and Facilitators to Programming: Delivering interventions to address child marriage in humanitarian settings in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen."
This research investigates the application and effectiveness of amended instructions for granting marriage permits to individuals under the age of 18. The research aims to gather insights from girls and their families regarding the practical implementation of these instructions and their impact on child marriage rates.
We are delighted to share RAF's June 2025 Newsletter with you.