Efforts urged to put an end to child marriages

Islamabad: Stressing the need to implement prevailing laws in complete consistency and commitment to end the menace of child marriages in the country, speakers and participants raised serious concerns regarding lack of contrivance to uproot social disparity at the media engagement event ‘Bachpan Bachao’, organised by Oxfam Novib in Islamabad to engage national media on child marriages in the country. The event marked that over 40 percent of girls become child brides in Pakistan every year and continue to be victims of violence, often denied the right to basic education, health and socio-economic participation.

Inspired and motivated by the eloquent interactive sessions brilliantly moderated by renowned Media Person and Anchor Tauseeq Haider, the select gathering of print, electronic and digital journalists, drama writers, TV producers, documentary makers from across Pakistan raised their voice against all social taboos and reiterated the powerful role that media can play in not only creating mass awareness against the ill-practice of child marriages but also how media needs to work on a war-footing to strongly condemn portraying women as the vulnerable sex object through its content.

The event opened with the screening of a Documentary titled ‘Bachpan Bachao’ highlighting the urgency of addressing the issue of child marriages in the country to save the future of our girls. The Documentary also stressed on the importance of educating our girl child to help secure their future, as change can only come through education. ‘Bachpan Bachao’ works with young people, local communities, marriage registrars, government officials, law enforcement officers, health service providers, teachers and parents on raising awareness and equipping them with adequate resources to take action against child marriages. The project also engages parliamentarians, law and policy makers, religious scholars, academia and the media to create influence on bringing policy reforms and effective implementation of legislation to curtail the practice of child marriages in the country. The nationwide project is being implemented by Oxfam Novib and its implementing partners in Sindh and Punjab.

The keynote speaker, Punjab Commission on Status of Women Chairperson Fauzia Viqar highlighted that promoting gender equality should be key priority of Pakistan’s Government and a consistent feature in its development programs. “Article 25A of the Constitution says that the right to education should be correlated to the issue of child marriage, as the child who gets married at the age of 12 or 13 will have to be dropped out from school. ” said Ms Viqar. 

Sharing few more plans, Fauzia said that government plans to add gender violence in the syllabus of class 9th and 10th to create awareness among the youth about human rights issues. The government also plans to establish a helpline of human rights to offer immediate help to people regarding any kind of abuse, Fauzia added. 

The disparity on marriageable age in different provinces also came up in her discourse as she mentioned Sindh province having age 18 and Punjab 16, while the issue is under consideration in KP and no work has still been done on the issue in Baluchistan. This remains an alarming situation for all the stakeholders as govt. fails to have unified action plan for the whole country.