News Desk: Dhaka, Jul-30,
A new campaign has been launched to encourage people
to condemn child marriage in Bangladesh that has thrived in the shadow of the
pandemic.
The initiative -- 'Actions to Prevent Child Marriage
in Bangladesh' -- is also designed to support every girl’s dream to achieve
their aspirations and will help advance the objectives of Bangladesh’s 10-year
National Plan of Action to End Child Marriage (2018-2030).
The campaign, supported by the United States Agency
for International Development (USAID), will seek to collect one million pledges
from adolescents, parents, community leaders, policy makers, business leaders
and civil society representatives to prevent child marriage.
This will remind people that everyone has a
responsibility to protect girls from early marriage, create a safe and healthy
environment for girls and boys in their communities to help them reach their
full potential in life, which in turn, would benefit the society, said the US
Embassy in Dhaka.
“Child marriage is a human rights violation. We all
must take charge to end a complex issue like child marriage that requires
efforts along many fronts," said Xerses Sidhwa, Director of the Office of
Population, Health, Nutrition, and Education of USAID.
USAID will continue to work to protect young
Bangladeshis from this harmful practice, and work alongside the government of
Bangladesh and other partners to eliminate child marriage, which undermines
efforts to promote sustainable development, said Sidhwa.
Speaking at the launching event, Women and Children
Affairs Secretary Md Sayedul Islam said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is
committed to eliminate child marriage from Bangladesh by 2041.
"The government, development partners,
non-government organisations, the private sector and relevant stakeholders must
all work together to make it a reality.”
He thanked USAID for initiating this timely campaign
to help reduce child marriage that has thrived in the shadow of the pandemic.
Amir Hossain, Director of Information, Education,
Motivation unit of the Directorate General of Family Planning, officials from
the US Embassy in Bangladesh, and representatives of other national and
international organisations also attended the event.
Bangladesh has made notable progress in curbing
child marriage, with several studies showing a decline in the same.
Proportion of girls who married before the age of 16
declined from 46 percent to 32 percent between 2007-2017, while those who
married before age 18 (the legal age) fell from 66 percent to 59 percent,
according to the studies.
However, Bangladesh is witnessing a sharp rise in
child marriages during the Covid-19 pandemic, driven by multiple factors
including reduced income, especially in lower-income families, and school
closures, said the US Embassy.
USAID’s Ujjiban Social Behaviour Change
Communication project, implemented by Johns Hopkins University, is leading the
public awareness campaign highlighting the health risks of early pregnancy and
the high returns of investing in girls’ education.
The campaign will also help generate awareness about the current law in Bangladesh that prohibits child marriage, instruct people how to use existing mechanisms to report incidents in their community, and help victims.
