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Tomorrow marks another milestone in the struggle to get every child around the world into school and learning �鶹APP� 400 days until the end of 2015.

The last day of next year was the target set by world leaders when they promised in the Millennium Development Goals in 2000 that all boys and girls would get a primary education, no matter where they lived or what their circumstances were.

With time running out, the will be focusing on the issue of girls�鶹APP� education over the next 100 days. Lack of access to education increases the chances of child marriage �鶹APP� and early and forced marriage is one of the key barriers to accessing education for girls. Each year 15 million girls under the age of 18 are married and child marriage has been a focus of the first 100 days of the #EducationCountdown.

But there is some good news. The United Nations has just passed a resolution aimed at ending child, early and forced marriages. And the first child marriage-free zone in Pakistan is being established.

The UN General Assembly agreed on November 22 to call on all countries to protect children by enacting and enforcing laws and policies which prevent early and forced marriage. It also said nations must ensure that marriages are entered into only with the informed, free and full consent of the spouses.

The move �鶹APP� backed by 116 countries �鶹APP� was welcomed by and , which both campaign globally against child marriage. Plan�鶹APP�s CEO Nigel Chapman called it �鶹APP�a historic step in protecting the basic human rights of millions of girls�鶹APP�. He added: �鶹APP�Despite being prohibited by international human rights law and many national laws, child marriage continues to rob millions of girls around the world of their childhood. It forces them out of education and into a life of poor prospects, with increased risk of violence, abuse, ill health or death.�鶹APP�

Sisters Nana and Zakia Abdulrahman Mohamed Ahmed, who were married at 13 and 17 in Darfur, Sudan

Girls Not Brides global co-ordinator Heather B. Hamilton called the UN resolution �鶹APP�historic�鶹APP�. She added: �鶹APP�The resolution demonstrates the broad international consensus that urgent action is needed to end child marriage, a practice that hold back 15 million girls a year, or about 41,000 a day, denying them fundamental rights and undermining their future. If there is no reduction in child marriage, 1.2 billion girls will marry as children by 2050 �鶹APP� equivalent to the entire population of India.�鶹APP�

Heather added: �鶹APP�The passage of a UN resolution does not mean that we will end child marriage tomorrow, but resolutions are important in setting global norms. This is a firm statement from the international community that we have to act on child marriage if we�鶹APP�re to ensure equality and reduce global poverty.�鶹APP�

The South Asia region �鶹APP� and Pakistan in particular �鶹APP�  has one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world. But the first child marriage-free zone in Pakistan is being created in Sindh province by A World at School partner.��

In a , ITA director of programmes Baela Raza Jamil tells how this �鶹APP�bold step�鶹APP� comes on the back of the passing of the Child Marriage Restraint Act 2013, which raises the age of marriage for both girls and boys to 18.

Other South Asian governments are committing to end child marriage. Earlier this year member states in the South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) adopted  �鶹APP� and on November 7 they issued the .��

The African Union has pledged to end child marriage within a generation.

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