CHILD MARRIAGE ENGLISH FINAL

I am here because of my illness I have tried herbal remedies that didn't work that's why I'm here I was forcefully married I told my parents that I do not like the man but they insisted that I must marry him against my will then I told myself that my parents must have hated me to give me out that way now see what has happened to me he has driven me out of the house if I can get healed I will not go back to him I wanted him to divorce me I don't want to go back to him when I went to my father with my grandpa he told me I'm no longer his problem that his worries now are how to take care of my siblings I just want to get well and be normal again that's all I want the battle to eradicate the practice of child marriage is being fought on a daily basis across West Africa and the world local and international agencies religious bodies civil societies and governments have embarked on various campaigns to enlighten and educate on the Eve's of this practice still child marriage remains and every day girls are forced to ain't their childhood abruptly and maid rights overnight Miriam come here come here I say come here marriage is the act of sending a young girl into emission ash is not prepared for with a mission that she does not know about getting a young girl to live for the rest of her life a life - is not prepared for what empowers who who has not even gotten the basic education that's required for survival now you are Edison that one out into marriage so it destroys the career progress of that challenging ecology deeper and deeper asset do not give a child marriage but the child is my children of this is really serious problem you know that is contributing to the poverty level in many part of West Africa early marriage is giving the child in marriage before the age of majority and then without their consent giving the child without their consent when they have not reached the legal age for me girls who are victims of violence other girls who psychologically are labeled by society and psychologically will no longer like marriage my name is dado camara I'm 16 I like to have fun I like going out with my friends partying I like school too I do not like being bored alone staying alone at home I came here in May 2013 with my two older brothers we came here on holiday at first my father did not talk about forced marriage to me he said nothing he came on the 26th of November 2014 when he arrived he said we were going to the village together because all the family were there so I went to the village with my father there he began to talk to me about marriage many people had asked to marry me and I did not accept he offered to marry me to my cousin I did not accept and there he said that then it will be by force yes I felt a little sad I didn't want it I didn't know what to do at first I didn't know how I would get out but as soon as I call my sister everything was sorted out we have to stop this it is not right the world has changed these are the sort of things that happened before but now there is no more forced marriage the husband's situation the rate of early marriage is high in some localities it is not in all localities for example in the chi region with a son in case there are many early marriages so it depends on the region and today we know that with the rise of fundamentalism girls are married early as the doctor said in general it is so that the girl hasn't had sex or teenage pregnancy then it is also out of respect for religion first reason customs and traditions second the importance of religion and thirdly it is a pleasure it is an honor for a family to give his daughter in marriage before she has had sexual intercourse for the first time when it is discovered after the wedding after the wedding night that the girl never had sex she is still a virgin the whole family is happy the whole family's honored they even give gifts to the girl the husband is obliged to give gifts to the girl as a reward and parents are very happy they are very happy and mothers aunts come celebrate it we are in the process of educating parents about the consequences of early marriage we work with doctors you have just met our doctor we work with doctors who raise awareness of childbirth with parents of children who have married early the worst case is this woman this young girl who was married at 15 to her father's friend her first pregnancy was not followed or declared she gave birth in the hamlet in the bush she suffered a vesicle vaginal and rectal vaginal fistula she had a tear between the vagina and bladder and the rectum and the vagina so she had urinary and fecal losses and although the child was big he did not survive not only did she lose her child but she had a double obstetric fistula we hospitalized her she was given medication antibiotics but unfortunately we lost her this is the worst case that I can remember I say that to stop early marriage in Malley we need a law because with our code of persons and the family the child must be married at 16 although the age of majority it's 18 years so I think we need a law to end early marriage Nietzsche has the highest rates of child marriage in West Africa 75 percent of girls in DJ are married before the age 18 when these offences are committed they must be prosecutions and consequently sanctions against the perpetrators of these infractions I am an example I still remember when I was in primary school one day my family introduced me to a girl about eight years old and I was made to understand that she would be my wife me I was surprised I said but why they said it is out of respect for our traditions I said but tradition must change and it has to be a good thing so if you give a girl of eight to be married you prevent her from going to school which means you are holding back her spiritual moral and physical development in Nigeria northern Nigeria has one of the highest rates of child marriage early marriage you know in Nigeria and in many part of West Africa is one of the most serious issues that is undermining the growth and development of young you know girls in this and that's you know in many places in Nigeria and in West Africa young girls are taken out you know from school for marriage when they are not actually even matured you know enough to be given out for marriage you find out with statistics that one in three girls below the age of actually given out in force early child marriage and one in nine a given our teen marriage before they actually became fifteen years of age so the situation is quite alarming in the country the Child Rights Act passed in 2003 said the minimum age of marriage for girls in Nigeria at 18 but the provision to execute this law remains undeveloped in many parts of the country this is a disability has to do with issues of regional Testament issues of tradition it has to do with issues of poverty it has to do with the use of any traces so you can expand it as as far as it goes most parents believe that by giving out their child they are given a lead from before marriage it also we are securing their virginity and the family honor there is such a divide in the country poorer people seem to be a lot so when there is a situation like that the shortage of resources for family so they are only left to the option it's not like a child is the only valuable thing to be treated so they end up trading the girl child and you know believing a patriarchal society poverty goes hand in hand with gender inequality that we have in Nigeria the girl child is viewed as not so valuable so they tend to say oh I can invest in a boy because he is bringing back to me when I invest in a woman she's checking into her husband's house and he's not gonna pay i poisoned his food so he can eat and die i did it because he forcefully married me I want him to divorce me but he said no he stopped my education and I want to continue my education and be a medical doctor my parents told me to be patient that I would learn to love him with time but what I want is to finish my education and be a doctor parents should stop marrying out their children forcefully because they don't know what they would face in the marriage the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that marriage should be entered early with a free and full consent of the intended spouse it whichever Americans get up from the cultural a certain feed from the religious aspect of foods and from the economic aspect of it I think parents great responsibility to plead in typical debt to them I'm not just pushing them out to go and get started we need to promote gender equality because we discarded sin smoothly with II guess giving out the gas ad for marriage to make you leave it so general quality what should be promoted or be encouraged coercion must be addressed poverty must be addressed when people are educated to know the ills of child marriage they are better informed and able to take the C shun vanishes this is unhealthy for my child and also when you look at a psychological effect a child giving birth to a child she's not prepared for it she's not prepared for mother or because she's a child emotionally and physically prepared for it but when you actually go about educating people and creating awareness they are better informed to make appropriate decisions to actually protect nature in burkina faso the legal age of marriage is 17 the reasons that make it difficult to eradicate child marriage in burkina faso as everywhere else are primarily related to our culture because the mindset runs deep issues of culture of tradition run deep into the roots of our societies our villages and with that as I said different information on human rights the phenomenon diminishes more and more the girls are unable to complete their education or go to school at all most of these girls who marry young are often the second or third wives of a partner who is substantially older the young girl who is given in marriage very early risks her life simply because she may die because of this early marriage because her body is not yet ready to receive a man much less a child newly married girls are expected to begin childbearing immediately and then tend to give birth within the first 20 months of marriage sad as this is they've become part of a revolving circle that keeps them forever in poverty there is a legal age for marriage between man and woman but this is already prescribed in the Family Code there is a law but some do not obey the law or are ignorant I say that the law is made to be respected if there are people who will not respect the law the government needs to enforce it and impose sanctions we need the government to pass a law just as it did for excision we need the government to support the fight against violence by adopting legislation punishing infractions through imprisonment or fines so that people understand in Syria loom child marriage is also very common in the rural areas six to one percent of girls are affected by child and forced to marriage two out of four girls are married before the age of eighteen and I live with my parents I go to school in the morning and in the evening cell for my mum I'm in a relationship and got pregnant my mom threw me out of the house and my partner abandoned me leaving me with the child although there is a law that really beats child marriage in the country however with parental consent it is permitted the typical sera Union or African man believes that women were meant for a kitchen they are meant to be raising children and so they don't believe men so they believe women should marriage at an early age of that gender stuff many girls have no choice but to marry young in order to help their families financially it is customary in Syria alone for a girl to be married at a tender age of nine years old in Syrian age of puberty is determined according to the physical outputs of the care see any breasts and body so no so when this girl has attained such pivoting here the periods could be tempted to give her to him and her luggage then under it we just factored we are for example Islamic religion and then the doctrine of Islam says the girl is much old when she starts in Armenian do you know so we are tempted to give such children to marriage as also operating the practice a lot of culture a lot of culture and communities people who have accepted it people are exactly there is this poverty poverty is one kind of a thing that is a shattered with with a wife from the time of the first pregnancy there is suffering that she will endure for the rest of her life no pleasure rejected socially because she is disabled for life for the national community on the fundamental rights granted the girls during these occasions we expose these rights especially regarding marriage we recall that in our country there is a legal and legislative framework the Civil Code which protects the girl against early marriage what we do what we are actually involved in is in fighting to raise awareness on the ground in communities that's what our organization does we train paralegals to go and raise awareness about the rights of women the rights of children to promote the education of girls and to keep them in school today we are in a harmonization phase of the legal texts with our international commitments we have almost completed revising our civil codes that harmonize the age of marriage the proposals we have made in our civil code revised in partnership with the Department of Justice is that the minimum age of marriage for women is 18 years the general consensus is that to curb child marriage there must be continuous efforts to empower the girl child we in workshop we have been advocating that there should be at least you know a minimum age limits you know in words you know young girls should be given to marriage walks off has been you know engaging you know different stakeholders you know what beauty carve and minimize this practice you know in Nigeria and in many West African countries you know through you know a policy dialogue because we believe that this has to you know uh you know be done in order to minimize the consequences of the Alamo regional so we engage on you know policy dialogue to look at you know what our policymakers whatever this letters you know what other you know our stakeholders even the parents you know and you know even some in most cases you know some of the main you know we do you know meet with them to discuss to see the best way there must be a commitment to change in social and cultural norms that are detrimental to the rights of children especially the girl child and also adoption of legal reforms and policy actions that protects the gold child with the activities of various local and international organizations the campaign has brought some improvement but the journey is still far from over until every girl child is completely free from the pressure and danger of being forced into child marriage the campaign must not die you

Channel: Uche Madueke

Views: 605,167

Rating: 4.1384845 out of 5

Keywords: Child/Early marriage, human rights, girl child, CSOs, Child right, WACSOF

Id: xyum-QRM-VM

Length: 26min 14sec (1574 seconds)

Published: Wed May 11 2016