The Child Marriage Prevention Act is groundbreaking federal legislation and represents the first concerted effort by the U.S. Congress to condemn and prevent child marriage domestically. During the webinar, Tahirih’s Director of Public Policy was joined by survivor advocates and staff from the offices of Senator Durbin and Representative Gwen Moore.

From Jeffrey Epstein to the recent and horrifying case of intergenerational child marriage and child abuse in Ohio, forced and child marriage is having insidious impacts across this country every day. Speakers provided an overview of the scope and devastating impact of child marriage in the United States today, how the Child Marriage Prevention Act would address these harms, and how you can get involved in the campaign to pass this bill into law. The Child Marriage Prevention Act was introduced on July 17th by Congresswoman Gwen Moore (WI), Senator Dick Durbin (IL) and U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (HI) and Kirsten Gillibrand (NY).

This webinar features Morgan Weibel, Supervising Immigration Attorney, and Heather Heiman, Forced Marriage Initiative Project Manager and Senior Policy Attorney, from the Tahirih Justice Center. The webinar outlines concerns and provides practical tips for helping “reluctant sponsors,” as well as protections available to individuals in the United States who are fleeing forced marriages overseas.

This webinar was first presented as part of the Forced Marriage Initiative’s Quarterly Webinar Series on June 19th, 2013.