WEBVTT

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I'll begin today

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by sharing a poem

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written by my friend from Malawi,

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Eileen Piri.

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Eileen is only 13 years old,

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but when we were going through
the collection of poetry that we wrote,

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I found her poem so interesting,

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so motivating.

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So I'll read it to you.

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She entitled her poem
"I'll Marry When I Want."

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(Laughter)

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"I'll marry when I want.

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My mother can't force me to marry.

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My father cannot force me to marry.

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My uncle, my aunt,

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my brother or sister,

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cannot force me to marry.

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No one in the world

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can force me to marry.

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I'll marry when I want.

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Even if you beat me,

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even if you chase me away,

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even if you do anything bad to me,

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I'll marry when I want.

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I'll marry when I want,

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but not before I am well educated,

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and not before I am all grown up.

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I'll marry when I want."

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This poem might seem odd,

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written by a 13-year-old girl,

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but where I and Eileen come from,

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this poem, which I have just read to you,

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is a warrior's cry.

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I am from Malawi.

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Malawi is one of the poorest countries,

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very poor,

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where gender equality is questionable.

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Growing up in that country,

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I couldn't make my own choices in life.

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I couldn't even explore

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personal opportunities in life.

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I will tell you a story

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of two different girls,

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two beautiful girls.

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These girls grew up

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under the same roof.

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They were eating the same food.

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Sometimes, they would share clothes,

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and even shoes.

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But their lives ended up differently,

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in two different paths.

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The other girl is my little sister.

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My little sister was only 11 years old

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when she got pregnant.

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It's a hurtful thing.

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Not only did it hurt her, even me.

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I was going through a hard time as well.

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As it is in my culture,

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once you reach puberty stage,

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you are supposed to go
to initiation camps.

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In these initiation camps,

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you are taught how
to sexually please a man.

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There is this special day,

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which they call "Very Special Day"

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where a man who is hired
by the community

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comes to the camp

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and sleeps with the little girls.

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Imagine the trauma that these young girls


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go through every day.

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Most girls end up pregnant.

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They even contract HIV and AIDS


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and other sexually transmitted diseases.

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For my little sister,
she ended up being pregnant.

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Today, she's only 16 years old

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and she has three children.

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Her first marriage did not survive,

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nor did her second marriage.

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On the other side, there is this girl.

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She's amazing.

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(Laughter)

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(Applause)

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I call her amazing because she is.

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She's very fabulous.

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That girl is me. (Laughter)

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When I was 13 years old,

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I was told, you are grown up,

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you have now reached of age,

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you're supposed to go
to the initiation camp.

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I was like, "What?

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I'm not going to go
to the initiation camps."

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You know what the women said to me?

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"You are a stupid girl. Stubborn.

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You do not respect the traditions
of our society, of our community."

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I said no because I knew
where I was going.

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I knew what I wanted in life.

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I had a lot of dreams as a young girl.

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I wanted to get well educated,

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to find a decent job in the future.

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I was imagining myself as a lawyer,


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seated on that big chair.

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Those were the imaginations that


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were going through my mind every day.

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And I knew that one day,

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I would contribute something,
a little something to my community.

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But every day after refusing,

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women would tell me,

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"Look at you, you're all grown up.
Your little sister has a baby.

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What about you?"

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That was the music
that I was hearing every day,

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and that is the music
that girls hear every day

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when they don't do something
that the community needs them to do.

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When I compared the two stories
between me and my sister,

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I said, "Why can't I do something?

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Why can't I change something
that has happened for a long time

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in our community?"

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That was when I called other girls

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just like my sister, who have children,

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who have been in class but they have
forgotten how to read and write.

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I said, "Come on, we can 
remind each other

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how to read and write again,

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how to hold the pen,
how to read, to hold the book."

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It was a great time I had with them.

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Nor did I just learn a little about them,

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but they were able to tell me
their personal stories,

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what they were facing every day

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as young mothers.

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That was when I was like,

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'Why can't we take all these things
that are happening to us

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and present them and tell our mothers,
our traditional leaders,

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that these are the wrong things?"

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It was a scary thing to do,

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because these traditional leaders,

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they are already accustomed to the things


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that have been there for ages.

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A hard thing to change,

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but a good thing to try.

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So we tried.

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It was very hard, but we pushed.

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And I'm here to say that in my community,


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it was the first community after girls


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pushed so hard to our traditional leader,


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and our leader stood up for us
and said no girl has to be married

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before the age of 18.

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(Applause)

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In my community,

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that was the first time a community,

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they had to call the bylaws,

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the first bylaw that protected girls

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in our community.

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We did not stop there.

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We forged ahead.

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We were determined to fight for girls
not just in my community,

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but even in other communities.

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When the child marriage bill
was being presented in February,

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we were there at the Parliament house.

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Every day, when the members
of Parliament were entering,

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we were telling them,
"Would you please support the bill?"

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And we don't have
much technology like here,

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but we have our small phones.

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So we said, "Why can't we get 
their numbers and text them?"

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So we did that. It was a good thing.

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(Applause)

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So when the bill passed,
we texted them back,

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"Thank you for supporting the bill."

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(Laughter)

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And when the bill was signed
by the president,

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making it into law, it was a plus.

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Now, in Malawi, 18 is the legal
marriage age, from 15 to 18.

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(Applause)

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It's a good thing to know
that the bill passed,

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but let me tell you this:

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There are countries where 18
is the legal marriage age,

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but don't we hear cries
of women and girls every day?

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Every day, girls' lives
are being wasted away.

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This is high time for leaders
to honor their commitment.

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In honoring this commitment,

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it means keeping girls' issues
at heart every time.

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We don't have to be subjected as second,

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but they have to know that women,
as we are in this room,

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we are not just women,
we are not just girls,

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we are extraordinary.

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We can do more.

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And another thing for Malawi,

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and not just Malawi but other countries:

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The laws which are there,

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you know how a law is not a law
until it is enforced?

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The law which has just recently passed

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and the laws that in other countries
have been there,

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they need to be publicized
at the local level,

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at the community level,

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where girls' issues are very striking.

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Girls face issues, difficult issues,
at the community level every day.

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So if these young girls know
that there are laws that protect them,

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they will be able to stand up
and defend themselves

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because they will know that
there is a law that protects them.

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And another thing I would say is that

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girls' voices and women's voices

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are beautiful, they are there,

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but we cannot do this alone.

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Male advocates, they have to jump in,

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to step in and work together.

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It's a collective work.

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What we need is what girls elsewhere need:

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good education, and above all,
not to marry whilst 11.

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And furthermore,

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I know that together,

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we can transform the legal,

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the cultural and political framework

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that denies girls of their rights.

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I am standing here today

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and declaring that we can
end child marriage in a generation.

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This is the moment

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where a girl and a girl,
and millions of girls worldwide,

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will be able to say,

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"I will marry when I want."

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(Applause)

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Thank you. (Applause)