Some 37,000 girls under the age of 18 who are forced into childhood marriage every day, frequently with men significantly older than themselves. Often fathers exchange their daughters for money or goods, or marry them off due to longstanding cultural traditions.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Tuesday cautioned that hundreds of millions of children who live in the world’s urban areas have been largely ignored by policymakers.
Quebec’s proposed legislation requiring all schools to adopt an anti-bullying and anti-violence plan is being lauded by UNICEF as an important step in curbing bullying in the province.