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Dear John,

November was a significant month for the rights of women and girls. The election of a conservative administration in the US will undoubtedly have wide-reaching implications, both here in the US as well as in other parts of the world. At Equality Now we predict a diminishment of legal gender equality initiatives; a stalling of progress on international discussions around immigration and climate; and a pushback of sexual and reproductive rights.

Yet just a week after the results of the election were announced, huge progress was unfolding in a different country – Colombia – where, following nearly two decades of tireless advocacy by Equality Now and other civil society organizations, the government has finally b ([link removed]) anned child marriage ([link removed]) .

By closing a legal loophole permitting children to be married off under certain circumstances, the Colombian government has aligned its laws with international standards and shown that it fully respects the rights of all girls to make informed decisions about their own futures. This is in stark contrast to the US government, which despite significant and ongoing pressure has not yet closed similar loopholes that permit child marriage in 37 of 50 US states. Between 2000 and 2018, nearly 300,000 minors were married in the US, with the vast majority (86%) being girls married to adult men.

The announcement that child marriage was to be banned in Colombia was made during during the First Global Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence Against Childre ([link removed]) n, which was convened by the Colombian government to address violence against children. As part of the Equality Now delegation, I joined state actors from across the world as they came together to discover and discuss how to tackle child marriage in their own countries. Not only was this hugely inspiring, it was also a perfect example of how enormous progress can be achieved even within a wider context of civil rights and liberties being stripped away.

Around the world, there has been a shift away from collective action towards individual power. Autocratic ‘strongman’ leaders ride in on promises of security and control, stoking fear before using it to undermine democracy, erode rights, and turn us against one another. But we are not helpless in the face of authoritarianism. We too have great power, in the form of knowledge; of agency; of solidarity. Together we can hold up a beacon of truth amid the darkness of misinformation; we can build systems that promote equality within structures designed to suppress it; we can stand in solidarity against those who would tear us apart.

What we can learn from Colombia is that pressure works. We must not give up, and we must not give in to those who would take away our rights and prevent us from realizing our potential. However uncertain the future may seem, at Equality Now we will continue, as we always have, to find new ways to achieve progress towards equality. Because as we have seen time and time again: after every knock-back comes another step forward, and another.

As I look back on the past month I am reminded that the highs and the lows of striving for equality can be equally profound. We need to acknowledge this, and to support each other as we step into a heretofore unknown future. None of us know what tomorrow will hold, but we can all be sure that by working collectively, we can start creating a better world today.
In solidarity,

S. Mona Sinha
Global Executive Director,
Equality Now

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