Pakistan is getting its first female Supreme Court judge

This week, I'm focusing on:

• The Philippines made it illegal to marry children
• Sudan is defending its democracy (again)
• A study that takes a global look at the nature of political protests -- and what we can learn from a bird's-eye view
• And: Haiti, South Africa, India, Mexico, Pakistan, Seychelles and Ukraine.

what happened last week

We made it illegal for anyone to marry children in the Philippines
The Philippines has a new law: You cannot get married to anyone under the age of 18 anymore. If you do or help anyone break this law, you can face up to 12 months in prison.

Why this matters:
Child marriage is a violation of humans rights and a huge global problem. The Central African Republic, Nicaragua or Morocco (in 2020, at courts, there were 20,000 requests to get married with a minor, even though it is forbidden), and so many more countries, deal with it. One in five girls are globally married before they reach 18. Millions of young boys also really struggle as child grooms. COVID-19 made it all worse.

Did you know:
Child marriage is technically legally allowed in 44 states of the United States? Nearly 300,000 children were legally married in the U.S. between 2000 and 2018, mostly girls married to adult men.

Is child marriage really bad in The Philippines?
Yes. In this part of the world, one in six girls get married before they turn 18. The country has the 12th highest number of child marriages in the world.

Oof. You're starting the first issue of the year with such gloom.
No, no. Listen, recent data says that fewer and fewer girls and boys get married on average across the globe.

Why is there child marriage at all?
UNICEF recently did a study, 'attitudes of families.' Literally, obsession about daughters losing their 'virginity' and families their 'honour'. But second comes the belief of families that a marriage is often a source of social security for girls. Oh, and low levels of schooling appear to be both a cause and a result of child marriage.

What are the effects of child marriage?
As I said, low level of education. According to UNICEF, child brides are more likely to experience domestic violence --- particularly those with adult spouses. Plus, "Girls who marry young are more likely to be poor and remain poor," according to studies carried out by the International Center for Research on Women. Also, health-wise, a child marriage is a risk. Child brides often face childbirth and pregnancy complications because their bodies are not yet fully developed and ready for them to give birth.

We are defending democracy in Sudan
Sudan has been going through a lot over these past few months. Now, the country's prime minister, Abdalla Hamdok, quit his job all of a sudden last week. 'I think the army is in over its head,' he (didn't but I assume) said.

Refresher:
People all over the world looked to Sudan in 2019 and said, 'wow!' This northeast African country literally said 'buh-bye' to dictatorship (ousted the country's long-term authoritarian President Omar al-Bashir; the 78-year-old is now on trial), and 'oh hello' to a (transitional) democratic government, with a power-sharing arrangement that read like an amicable divorce agreement: Hamdok and parts of the military decided to rule the country together for two years until a civilian (not someone in the military) became president of Sudan. However, that hasn't happened yet and people are worried that the army might be breaking a very sensitive promise.

What do people in Sudan say?
Well, thousands of people have been protesting out on the streets of the capital Khartoum for a while now; they're...