Illustrative image: girlsnotbrides.org
A Non-Governmental Organisation, Focusing on Women and Girls Initiative for Positive Change, has called for the implementation of laws that will protect and promote adolescent girls’ rights against child marriage.
The Founder and Executive Director of the NGO, Mrs. Rifaku Ademola-Bello, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja on Friday.
Ademola-Bello described child marriage as any formal or informal union between a child (boy or girl) under the age of 18 and an adult with a child in which they live as a couple.
She said cultural, economic and social forces prevalent among Nigeria’s poorest, rural households and uneducated population fuels child marriage.
The Executive Director stressed that implementing laws and policies, as well as domesticating them, especially the Child Rights Act, will go a long way to address the prevalence of child marriage and encourage girl-child education.
“Without strong regulatory protections for girls, child marriage is a common practice in Nigeria rooted in traditional, economic, religious, and legal conditions that disproportionately affect girls and women.
“Also, it is used to avoid the social stigma over teen pregnancy. Child marriage is also reinforced by unequal gender roles. Girls have very little access to decision-making power, bodily autonomy, or rights as there is the belief that girls and women are inferior to boys and men,’’ she said.
Ademola-Bello added that child marriage was a form of violence against children that reflects the low value accorded to the human rights of girls.
According to her, “Child marriage often violates children’s rights and compromises a girl’s development and well-being by placing them at a high risk of violence, exploitation, sexual, physical, and emotional abuse and social isolation.
“Girls are vulnerable to sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV and AIDS, and early pregnancy, cervical cancer and obstetric fistulas, while their offspring are at increased risk for premature birth and death as neonates, infants, or children.
“Beyond the increase in the number of females that are out of school, there are also health implications, especially child mortality as most married girls are denied a safe dwelling, and often do not have access to adequate health care.
“Child marriage constitutes a gross violation of human rights, leaving physical, psychological and emotional scars for life.
She, therefore, stressed the need to promote girl-child education, promote community dialogue and social mobilization, health and support the use of robust data and evidence to inform policy and programming, track progress, and document lessons as strategies to end child marriage.
“Empower girls with information, skills and support networks; Provide economic support and incentives to girls and their families; Educate and rally parents and community members; Enhance girls’ access to a high-quality education; Encourage supportive laws and policies,’’ Ademola-Bello said.
(NAN)
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