Ensuring girls’ safety, security will curb child marriage: Speakers

Speakers, at a webinar held on Saturday, said ensuring safety and security of girls will reduce child marriage as 'insecurity' among parents is one of the major causes of it.

 Although the rate of child marriage has decreased at the national level due to various initiatives of the government, the rate of child marriage in Bhola district is worrying, they said. 

Speakers said this at the webinar titled "Causes, Impact and Ways to Prevent Child Marriage" organised by the COAST Foundation on Saturday, said a press release.  

While presenting a study report at the webinar, Iqbal Uddin, joint director of the organisation, said the national level child marriage rate for children under the age of 15 is 15.5% but in Bhola it is slightly higher at around 19%. On the other hand, the national rate of child marriage among under-18s is 51.4%, but in Bhola it is much higher, at 80.3%. 

''41.7% of those surveyed identified insecurity as the main cause of child marriage. For this, 67.3% of girls who pass 8th grade get married,'' according to the study on child marriage conducted in four upazilas of Bhola district by COAST Foundation. 

Meher Afroz Chumki MP, chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, was the chief guest at the webinar.

She said despite many initiatives of the government, there is still a problem of attitude towards girls in the society. To solve this problem, girls need to be made financially self-sufficient, they need to be educated. 

Local elected representatives including local UP members-chairmen should play an active role in preventing child marriage, she opined. 

Naripookho member Shireen Huq said not only punishment, but also cultural change and social movement are needed to prevent child marriage. Integrated sex education can play an important role in preventing child marriage.

Shaheen Anam, executive director, Manusher Jono Foundation (MJF), said in order to prevent child marriage and its negative impact, it is very important to bring back the girls who have dropped out of school.

''We need to ensure reproductive health services for those who are already married and we need make the concerned people including the upazila-based child marriage prevention committee accountable,'' she added. 

SM Latif, director of Child Protection Project of women and child affairs ministry, said a study found that 33% of parents find child marriage acceptable. The reasons for child marriage vary widely in different areas, so it requires division based programs. 

Natalie McCauley, head of Child Protection, UNICEF Bangladesh, said social volunteers need to be proactive in preventing child marriage. Initiatives need to be taken to change people's behavior.

AH Tawfiq Ahmed, Barisal Division Field office chief, said a special focus is needed on tracking the education of girls at the school level. Those who drop out after eighth grade, why they drop out, where they go - if this issue can be monitored, child marriage can be reduced.

COAST Foundation executive director Rezaul Karim Chowdhury said urgent steps need to be taken to stop child marriage we need to activate local administration and union councils, form village committees in villages, increase security, increase stipend and amount of money, stop fake birth registration, campaigning to make marriage illegal without registered Kazi.