It could be a neighbor, classmate, or colleague. A friend, acquaintance, or family member.

According to a report from the World Bank and Save the Children, 30,000 girls are married every single day. That’s 20 girls a minute — or one girl every three seconds. In fact, according to Unicef, more than 700 million women around the world were married as children. They are deprived of their childhood, denied education, exposed to premature pregnancies, and lose the ability to control their own lives.

It may feel far away, or you may think that it doesn’t happen in developed countries. But, how would people react if it happened in the middle of the day … in New York?

It happens all the time — all over the world. To highlight the problem of child marriage, and show that it shouldn’t be ignored, Youtuber Coby Persin decided to do a social experiment.

What we’re going to watch is not an actual, legal child marriage. It is extremely important to watch, however uncomfortable it makes you. We need to bring this issue to light and spread awareness.

By staging a fake wedding between a 12-year-old girl and a 65-year-old man, Coby Persin wanted to show how people reacted.

The experiment was conducted in the middle of Times Square in New York.

In the experiment, Coby played a photographer who pretended to take wedding pictures of the 65-year-old and his 12-year-old bride. They posed and held hands. He smiled, staring down at his new bride.

At first, people simply walked by and stared.

But the longer the experiment went on, the more upset people’s reactions became.

Angry people approached the couple and confronted the man.

One woman asked, among other things, where the girl’s mother was and said she was too young.

Others stopped with comments like “this is crazy”, “this isn’t right”, “it’s not legal” and, “you’re a sick pervert”.

One woman took things into her own hands — and went so far as to pull the girl away from the man.

You could feel the tension in the air and it was coming to a head.

New York City refused to accept that a little girl could marry an older man. No one should accept this, anywhere!

Watch the video below to see the entire social experiment. It’s something we should all watch and think about:

Every three seconds a girl is forced to marry. Now it’s time to end the practice once and for all.

Share this article to show your resistance and spread awareness. All girls have the right to control their futures!