I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2103 
To protect girls in developing countries through the prevention of child 
marriage, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 27, 2009 
Ms. MCCOLLUM (for herself, Mrs. CAPPS, Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida, 
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. OBERSTAR, Ms. LEE of California, Mrs. 
MALONEY, Ms. WATSON, Mrs. TAUSCHER, Mr. HONDA, Mr. HINCHEY, 
Mr. MOORE of Kansas, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Mr. 
MORAN of Virginia, Mr. ELLISON, Mr. FILNER, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE 
JOHNSON of Texas, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. CARNAHAN, Mr. FARR, Ms. 
ESHOO, Mr. MCNERNEY, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. WALZ, Mr. CROWLEY, 
Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, and Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
A BILL 
To protect girls in developing countries through the 
prevention of child marriage, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘International Pro-
tecting Girls by Preventing Child Marriage Act of 2009’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
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(1) Child marriage, also known as ‘‘forced mar-
riage’’ or ‘‘early marriage’’, is a harmful traditional 
practice that deprives girls of their dignity and 
human rights. 
(2) Child marriage as a traditional practice, as 
well as through coercion or force, is a violation of ar-
ticle 16 of the Universal Declaration of Human 
Rights, which states, ‘‘Marriage shall be entered into 
only with the free and full consent of intending 
spouses.’’. 
(3) According to the United Nations Children’s 
Fund (UNICEF), an estimated 60,000,000 girls in 
developing countries now ages 20–24 were married 
under the age of 18, and if present trends continue 
more than 100,000,000 more girls in developing 
countries will be married as children over the next 
decade, according to the Population Council. 
(4) Child marriage ‘‘treats young girls as prop-
erty’’ and ‘‘poses grave risks not only to women’s 
basic rights but also their health, economic inde-
pendence, education, and status in society’’, accord-
ing to the Department of State in 2005. 
(5) In 2005, the Department of State con-
ducted a world-wide survey and found child marriage 
to be a concern in 64 out of 182 countries surveyed, 
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with child marriage most common in sub-Saharan 
Africa and parts of South Asia. 
(6) In Ethiopia’s Amhara region, about half of 
all girls are married by age 14 with 95 percent not 
knowing their husbands before marriage, 85 percent 
unaware they were to be married, and 70 percent re-
porting their first sexual initiation within marriage 
taking place before their first menstrual period, ac-
cording to a 2004 Population Council survey. 
(7) In some areas of northern Nigeria, 45 per-
cent of girls are married by age 15 and 73 percent 
by age 18, with age gaps between girls and the hus-
bands averaging between 12 and 18 years. 
(8) Between half and three-quarters of all girls 
are married before the age of 18 in the following 
countries: Niger, Chad, Mali, Bangladesh, Guinea, 
the Central African Republic, Mozambique, Burkina 
Faso, and Nepal, according to Demographic Health 
Survey data. 
(9) Factors perpetuating child marriage include 
poverty, a lack of educational or employment oppor-
tunities for girls, parental concerns to ensure sexual 
relations within marriage, the dowry system, and the 
perceived lack of value of girls. 
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