UN reports slow progress in reducing child marriage amidst global crisis.

Child marriages are declining but at a rate that would not eliminate the practice for another 300 years, as a series of crises, including climate change, threatens to reverse the trend, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has said in a report. UNICEF also fears that the convergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, global conflicts and the growing effects of climate change could reverse the hard-won gains. The coronavirus alone could be responsible for an additional 10 million underage marriages between 2020 and 2030, the report said.