see more

Malda, INDIA: An Indian groom puts vermilion, the holy mark belived the as sign of hindu marriage, on the forehead of his underage bride during a mass marriage programme in the village of Malda, some 360 Kms. northeast of Kolkata, 02 March 2006. India amended its Child Marriage Restraint Act in 1978, setting 18 as the minimum age for a woman to marry and 21 for a man, and lawmakers hoped in vain that the threat of fines and imprisonment would curb under-age marriages, but the practice continues. AFP PHOTO/STR (Photo credit should read STRDEL/AFP/Getty Images)

Malda, INDIA:  An Indian groom puts vermilion, the holy mark belived the as sign of hindu marriage, on the forehead of his underage bride during a mass marriage programme in the village of Malda, some 360 Kms. northeast of Kolkata, 02 March 2006.  India amended its Child Marriage Restraint Act in 1978, setting 18 as the minimum age for a woman to marry and 21 for a man, and lawmakers hoped in vain that the threat of fines and imprisonment would curb under-age marriages, but the practice continues. AFP PHOTO/STR  (Photo credit should read STRDEL/AFP/Getty Images)

see more

BAMIYAN, AFGHANISTAN - OCTOBER 8: Bas Gul, 17, resides at a women's shelter and safe house October 7, 2010 in Bamiyan, Afghanistan. She was a child bride, forced to marry at age 11, and ran away after five years of marriage to the boy, who was only five years old at the time of the marriage. Until women's shelters were started, something that was unknown here before 2003, a woman in an abusive marriage usually had no one to go to for protection. The problems many battered and abused women are confronting are deeply ingrained in a culture that has mainly been governed by tribal law. Since the overthrow of the Taliban in 2001, a more concrete idea of women's rights has begun to take hold, promoted by the newly created Ministry of Women's Affairs and a small community of women's advocates. (Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)

BAMIYAN, AFGHANISTAN - OCTOBER 8: Bas Gul, 17, resides at a women's shelter and safe house October 7, 2010 in Bamiyan, Afghanistan. She was a child bride, forced to marry at age 11, and ran away after five years of marriage to the boy, who was only five years old at the time of the marriage. Until women's shelters were started, something that was unknown here before 2003, a woman in an abusive marriage usually had no one to go to for protection. The problems many battered and abused women are confronting are deeply ingrained in a culture that has mainly been governed by tribal law. Since the overthrow of the Taliban in 2001, a more concrete idea of women's rights has begun to take hold, promoted by the newly created Ministry of Women's Affairs and a small community of women's advocates.  (Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)

see more

Afghan child bride Sahar Gul, 15, lies in a bed as she recovers at the Wazir Akbar Khan hospital in Kabul on January 12, 2012. Afghan President Hamid Karzai pledged January 12 to take action against the "cowardly" perpetrators of violence against women in the wake of a horrific case of the torture of a child bride. The president made the commitment after a visit by a delegation from the Afghan Women's Network over Sahar Gul, 15, who was burned and beaten and had her fingernails pulled out after she defied efforts to force her into prostitution. Gul was found last month in the basement of her husband's house in northeastern Baghlan province, where she had been locked in a toilet for six months by her husband and his parents. AFP PHOTO/ SHAH Marai (Photo credit should read SHAH MARAI/AFP/Getty Images)

Afghan child bride Sahar Gul, 15, lies in a bed as she recovers at the Wazir Akbar Khan hospital in Kabul on January 12, 2012. Afghan President Hamid Karzai pledged January 12 to take action against the "cowardly" perpetrators of violence against women in the wake of a horrific case of the torture of a child bride. The president made the commitment after a visit by a delegation from the Afghan Women's Network over Sahar Gul, 15, who was burned and beaten and had her fingernails pulled out after she defied efforts to force her into prostitution. Gul was found last month in the basement of her husband's house in northeastern Baghlan province, where she had been locked in a toilet for six months by her husband and his parents.  AFP PHOTO/ SHAH Marai (Photo credit should read SHAH MARAI/AFP/Getty Images)

see more

INDORE, INDIA: A 16 year old boy (L) waits to be married to a much younger girl (R) during a mass child marriage ceremony in Indore, 15 May 2002 some 200 kms west of the Madhya Pradesh state capital city Bhopal. At least 140 children aged 4 to 17 years took part in mass wedding ceremonies despite a government ban on under-age nuptials. (FILM) AFP PHOTO (Photo credit should read AFP via Getty Images)

INDORE, INDIA:  A 16 year old boy (L) waits to be married to a much younger girl (R) during a mass child marriage ceremony in Indore, 15 May 2002 some 200 kms west of the Madhya Pradesh state capital city Bhopal.  At least 140 children aged 4 to 17 years took part in mass wedding ceremonies despite a government ban on under-age nuptials. (FILM) AFP PHOTO (Photo credit should read AFP via Getty Images)

see more

A Pakistani policeman (C) escorts relatives of an underage girl and boy during a wedding ceremony in Karachi on October 31, 2008. Police arrested the pair of fathers and a marriage registrar in the Nazimabad area of the southern city of Karachi, amid claims that a four-year-old girl and seven-year-old boy were being wedded unlawfully. The arrested men said the wedding was meant to end a feud between the two families. AFP PHOTO/ Rizwan TABASSUM (Photo credit should read RIZWAN TABASSUM/AFP/Getty Images)

A Pakistani policeman (C) escorts relatives of an underage girl and boy during a wedding ceremony in Karachi on October 31, 2008.  Police arrested the pair of fathers and a marriage registrar in the Nazimabad area of the southern city of Karachi, amid claims that a four-year-old girl and seven-year-old boy were being wedded unlawfully.  The arrested men said the wedding was meant to end a feud between the two families.  AFP PHOTO/ Rizwan TABASSUM (Photo credit should read RIZWAN TABASSUM/AFP/Getty Images)