(Tony Blair, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom)

This week Girl Up Director Gina Reiss-Wilchins is attending the Global Philanthropy Forum. This conference aims to build a community of donors and social investors who committed to international causes.

Check out her question to Tony Blair, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, about child marriage!

“It’s an honor to be in the same room with you, thanks for being here and sharing your comments. I am the Director of the Girl Up Campaign at the United Nations Foundation. We’re mobilizing a million American girls, adolescent girls 13-18, to raise their voices for girls in developing countries," said Gina.

"Cherie Blair has been recently quoted about child marriage, and we’ll be working a lot on child marriage in the next 18 months. As you know, 27,000 girls are married every day against their will. She made some pretty profound statements around it being a healthcare issue, an empowerment issue, an economic issue, and I just wondered if you could speak a little bit to that with some of the work she might be doing with her foundation for women.”

"There is no so-called “cultural tradition” that should stand in the way of women being able to exercise their full potential. We just shouldn’t accept this as a valid argument. And I think it’s great if you’re mobilizing girls here to do the same for girls in the developing world, that’s fantastic," said Blair.

"So, well done you! It’s my honor to be in the same room with you.”

See the entire video clip!

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