New child marriage law in Bangladesh must dangers…………rm.
The Bangladesh government passed a law that would allow for child marriage to occur in “special circumstances”. While there are many laws and acts that get enacted every day all over the globe, not all can claim to have influence over the lives of 30 million girls.
While the government maintained the legal marriage age for children (18 for girls and 21 for boys), there is a new provision in the act which would allow child marriage to take place under “special circumstances” – with parental consent and with permission from the courts, deemed in the “best interest of the underage female or male”.
The consent or permission from the child, however, is not required, and no definition of these “special circumstances” are yet given.
Where Education is the vital point
As one of the leading organizations committed to ending child marriage, we know that a lack of education is one of the largest drivers of child marriage. Families, guardians, and members of the community often do not know or understand the risks and consequences that child marriage has on the life of a girl or a boy.
The previous law enabled us to work with communities to prevent and stop child marriage. Working throughout the country, we have successfully stopped some 2,000 child marriages in the last three years alone and has reached around 700,000 young people.
These are now 700,000 young people who are educated and informed about the risks and consequences of child marriage, and who should be empowered – and given the opportunity – to say no to marriage.
The empowerment of young people, particularly girls, has been fundamental in addressing this ongoing problem.
Children in Bangladesh established groups called the Wedding Busters, which target parents considering marriage for their children and inform them of the risks and consequences. With the support of the old law, the Wedding Busters were empowered to alert authorities if an illegal marriage was about to take place.
In some of our working areas, we saw a drop in child marriage from 70 percent to just 20 percent. We believe that when young people take action themselves, their attitudes change and, with that, the mindset of the future generation also changes.
We have also seen local government officials champion and support these young people. Together, they are a potent force for change.
This law has unimaginable impact and has the ability to change the future of millions of girls in our country. This is why they must have a bigger say in their future. We must not continue to decide for them.
