Amal Clooney Joins Forces With Melinda Gates and Michelle Obama to End Child Marriage
Three powerful women—Amal Clooney, Melinda Gates, and Michelle Obama—visited Malawi to focus on their commitment to end child marriage.
The 45-year-old barrister, Amal, co-founded the Clooney Foundation for Justice (CFJ) with her husband, Hollywood actor George Clooney. Melinda is a philanthropist and the ex-wife of billionaire Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Meanwhile, Michelle is the former country’s first lady. Last year, they joined forces to end child marriage.
Considered among the world’s most influential women, they have a tough fight ahead of them. Even the UN issued a warning that child marriage cannot be eradicated for another 300 years or so.
Providing an overview of their work, Amal shared with BBC News, “It’s been a really lovely and very organic partnership, and friendship, between the three of us.”
The former First Lady optimistically added, “It is an issue that can be solved tomorrow. It could happen in less than a generation.”
Note that the CFJ’s most recent initiative, the Waging Justice for Women, funds the Women Lawyers Association of Malawi. The work of the organization includes providing free legal advice and helping set up clinics in some of Malawi’s most remote areas where there is no electricity or accessible roads.
Amal has been hands-on with the project and even participated in the first clinic established in the Mchinji region, one of the 12 identified hotspots in the country where child marriage is still taking place.
The event was positively received with almost 1,000 attendees. Eight hundred of them were women. The gathering also included one-on-one consultations between locals and Amal’s team.
Amal showed her appreciation for the community’s support by saying, “It is a privilege to be working alongside so many inspirational Malawian women in the fight to make child marriage history. Child marriage persists because there are inadequate legal protections for millions of girls across Africa.”
She continued, “And even in nations such as Malawi where child marriage is prohibited, girls cannot access justice. CFJ now supports legal aid clinics in four countries—Malawi, Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Liberia—and will continue to expand this model to increase access to justice for women and girls across the continent.”
Amal met with Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera who renewed the government’s support and commitment to end child marriage by 2030. A request has also been made to the Finance Minister to allot much-needed resources to make the daunting task possible.
Based on figures from UNICEF, around 640 million women and girls were married as children. According to the NGO, Girls Not Brides, 42% of Malawi girls are already married by the time they reach 18. In Mchinji, 33% of these girls become pregnant before they turn 18.
Amal proceeded to Cape Town where she met victims of sexual violence alongside some of the organization’s legal partners. Later, she participated in a panel discussion with Michelle, Melinda, and Miss Graca Michel where they talked about child marriage and women’s rights.
