For 15 years, documentary photographer Stephanie Sinclair has focused her camera on what she calls “everyday brutality” — the violence, genital mutilation and forced marriage endured by girls and young women around the world, including in Afghanistan, India and Nigeria.

Now she has won the Anja Niedringhaus Courage in Photojournalism Award, granted by the International Women’s Media Foundation and named in memory of the Pulitzer Prize-winning German war photographer killed in Afghanistan in 2014. We spoke to Sinclair, who was born in Miami and lives in upstate New York, about her award, her photos and videos of the travails of child brides around the world, and about recently becoming a mother herself. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2017/05/13/526942703/video-a-heartbreaking-look-at-a-couple-forced-to-marry-as-young-teens

It’s thought that around 5,000 to 8,000 cases of forced marriages happen in England every year.

Almost half the cases involve 16 to 25-year-old girls and women, but it’s those who are still in education that are at the greatest risk. People with learning difficulties are also incredibly vulnerable.

But despite it being so prevalent in this country, people very rarely discuss it.

One charity is looking to change that, by calling on educational institutions to implement mandatory safeguarding practices.

Our Girl, a national forced marriage prevention and awareness campaign led by the Sharan Project, works with colleges and universities to train staff to notice the signs of forced marriage.

Young people are at the tipping point of being forced to marry, particularly where families will place conditions on their child to go to college or university in exchange for them marrying a person of the family’s choice upon completion or graduation,’ Polly Harrar, founder of the Sharan Project, said.

‘We have seen an increase in requests for support within schools, colleges and universities where no policies or training exists to support young people at risk or affected by forced marriage, and have seen some significant progress being made from the institutes we work with in addressing these issues.’

Read more: http://metro.co.uk/2017/04/28/thousands-of-girls-in-the-uk-are-forced-into-marriages-every-year-heres-what-you-can-do-6603977/#ixzz4fvLqTv1Q