LAHORE: Speakers at a policy dialogue stressed the need for creating awareness about child marriage among all stakeholders including police, judiciary and people across the province.
In a sitting on “Age of Marriage Bill for Girls in Punjab” held jointly by United Nations Population Fund (UNFP), Bedari and Sujag Sansar on Friday, the speakers said that 24 per cent of the girls have been married under the age of 18 in urban and rural areas of the country. Key speakers of the sitting included Population Welfare Minister Zakia Shahnawz, Punjab Commission on Status of Women Chairperson Fouzia Viqar, UNFPA representative Ann Keeling, Bedari ED Salim Malik, Faryal Gauhar and others.
They held that invisible forces were creating hindrances to the implementation of laws protecting rights of vulnerable communities including women and children in Pakistan. "We have to develop such system to hold invisible powers responsible, if any such incident occurs," they stood united on that. “Early age marriage raises several health concerns for young girls; some of which include pregnancy complications, health risks for babies born to young mothers and the risk of death,” they added. According to them, girls pregnant under the age of 15 have a five times greater chance of dying compared with girls pregnant in their 20s.
“Early marriage can also thwart personal development and growth as a child constantly undergoes physical, mental and emotional changes before reaching adulthood. In Pakistan, young girls are sometimes married to older men, which pose the risk that the girls might become conditioned to acting submissive towards their older male counterparts. This can also stunt their personality development, speakers held. They said that the media should play an active role to create awareness among people against the crime of forced child marriages.–Staff Reporter