According to SBS News, there are around 200 signatures have been gathered by Changes.org to pressure Kmart to pull off its child bride costumes. And then last Tuesday, the 22nd of October 2019, Kmart finally came out to apologized and pulled off the child bride costumes out of its shelves. It claimed it is "beyond appropriate", as "each year 12 million children were married off without their consent."
The non-governmental organization-Girls Not Brides, says Niger came top of the 20 countries who practice child marriage. So it is not an isolated incident but 'a global problem regardless of countries, ethnicities, cultures, and religions'. What is a more alarming trend is that "one in five girls will be married off before they are turning 18 years old".
Apart from this practice, as they are not physically and emotionally mature, there are also other complications from child marriage, such as pregnancy, childbirth, contracting HIV/AIDS and experiencing domestic violence.
Last but not least, due to they are not educated, they are unlikely to be able to participate fully in social-economic development, which leads them to live in poverty.
