KATHMANDU: The Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare (MoWCSW) will be organising a Girl Summit, with technical and financial support from the UK Aid, on March 23.

According to a statement issued the MoWCSW, the UK Aid and UNICEF, the Summit is being held as a follow-up to the first Girl Summit 2014, held by the UK government and UNICEF in London. The funds from the UK Aid will be provided through the Department for International Development (DfID), and UNICEF in partnership with civil society organisations.

The statement also said the Summit would address the global issue of child marriage stating that more than 700 million women were married in their childhood; among which, one in three women were married before 15.

Nepal will have its own Nepal Girl Summit to reaffirm Nepal’s commitment to ensure a future free from child marriage by 2030, Kiran Rupakhetee, the statement said.

The Summit will include consultations in 15 district including Morang, Saptari, Udayapur, Makawanpur, Rautahat, Kapilvastu, Rupandehi, Nawalparasi, Kalikot, Banke, Dailekh, Surkhet, Bajhang, Baitadi and Doti, giving a platform to young people and community leaders to discuss their views and challenges of child marriage.

The initiative aims to create educational, economical and empowerment opportunities for girls to unlock their full potential and raise the status of girls in Nepal, according to the statement.

The statement added that a three-day Pre-Girl Summit Workshop will be organised in Kathmandu to develop statements for the national and district event.

It has been estimated that around 48.5 per cent of women aged 20–49 years married before 18, 24.5 per cent of women aged 15-19 years are currently married and over 1.3 million adolescent girls of 10-19 years are at risk of being married.

Similar national events aimed at mobilising international efforts to end child, early and forced marriages have also been organised in Bangladesh, Uganda and Ethiopia, according to the statement.