Nepal, Feb. 6 -- Child marriage is equivalent to child rape, and no euphemism can mask this crime as a mere social injustice. The world has overlooked this grave crime, which has been detrimental to the health, protection and education of our girls for far too long.

There are approximately 650 million married girls under 18 years of age, and some nations fare worse than others. In Niger, more than three-fourths of girls under 18 were married, with almost 30 percent of them being younger than 15. The Central African Republic, Chad and Mali follow behind, with 61 to 54 percent rates. Moreover, the recently passed Iraqi law permits children as young as nine to marry.

Nepal's scenario

However, there are a few countries where child marriage...