Alliance Française de Dhaka (AFD) and the High Commission of Canada on 17 April launched a photo exhibition ‘Too Young to Wed’ by award-winning photojournalist Stephanie Sinclair (www.TooYoungTo Wed.org) who has spent more than 13 years documenting the lives of girls and women around the world.

The High Commissioner of Canada and special guest lawmaker Mahjabeen Khaled spoke at the inauguration. United States ambassador to Bangladesh Marcia Stephens Bloom Bernicat, Giti Ara Sufia, Shahidul Alam were among the guests present in the opening ceremony at AFD’s Dhanmondi branch.

The photo exhibition is on the harmful repercussions of child marriage. Child, early and forced marriage is a widespread, harmful practice that threatens the lives and futures of girls and young women around the world. Child, early and forced marriage is slowly declining in Bangladesh, but it still has the second highest rate of child marriage in the world, and the world’s highest rate of marriage involving girls under age 15. Canada has made ending child, early and forced marriage a foreign policy priority, and is spending over five million dollars in Bangladesh to address this challenge directly.

High Commissioner of Canada Benoît-Pierre Laramée commented, ‘Simply put, child, early and forced marriage puts the lives and futures of girls at risk. It is a violation of their human rights and it hinders the development of girls, their communities and their countries. This exhibit is an opportunity to raise awareness about this harmful practice. Canada was very encouraged by Prime Minister Hasina’s pledge at the Girls Summit in London in July 2014 to end child marriage below 15 by 2021, and all child marriage by 2041’.

Stephanie Sinclair remarked, ‘Together, we can end child marriage in Bangladesh by 2021. This will take significant and continued investment in girls. I hope the stories shown in these photographs illustrate why an end to this practice is so necessary’.

‘Too Young to Wed’ is a non-profit organisation that traces its official launch to October 11, 2012 - the first International Day of the Girl Child when dignitaries from around the world gathered at the United Nations headquarters, surrounded by photographs of child brides as young as 5, and pledged to end child marriage in our lifetime. TYTW advocates for the eradication of child marriage by providing visual evidence of the human rights challenges faced by women and girls around the world. Through the power of photography and storytelling, we aim to generate attention and resources by amplifying their courageous voices and building a global community dedicated to ending child marriage.

The exhibition will be open to all until 30 April 2015 in La Galerie, AFD from Monday to Thursday (3:00pm to 9:00pm), Friday and Saturday (9:00am to 12:00noon and 5:00pm to 8:00pm), except for Sundays.