Highlighting the consequences of child marriage

The morning was enlivened with young voices. A group of children and teenagers had gathered at LGED Auditorium, Agargaon in Dhaka. National Children Task Force (NCTF) organised “Child Parliament 2014” on December 21 to deliberate on how child marriage is a bane to education and rights, and how this social ailment can be resolved. The event was well-organised, even if a little astray from the itinerary it initially proposed.
The program started at 11 am with the chief guest Fazle Rabbi Miah, Deputy Speaker of the National Parliament, giving a welcome speech, lauding the children who assumed the role of MPs on their participation to learn tolerance and ethics, to be the voices of the voiceless. Among others, high-ups of Bangladesh Shishu Academy, Save the Children, Plan and World Vision Bangladesh were present.

The theme of the event was, “Child marriage hampers education and protection.” The purpose of Child Parliament is to educate children about their rights, especially the National Child Policy and inspire them to become advocates for peace. This year, 84 child MPs from 64 districts, including marginalised areas, attended the session. The opening ceremony included the national anthem and silence in honour of the school students killed recently in Pakistan. The parliamentary session started with a formal approach. Child Parliament Speaker, Sheikh Lomat Sohiba, started the session with a welcome speech, where she mentioned some notable achievements including ensuring free textbooks at secondary level, notification on corporal punishment, ethical and technology education at schools, ban of notebooks and coaching centres etc. The child MPs interacted well and a lot of everyday concerns were brought to light, in order to portray how a child's social development can be repressed by the burden of early marriage.

“I could stop my marriage but could not stop my engagement; though I want to go for higher studies, my parents would not let me. I had certain goals, and the failure to achieve them is not my fault,” said Jebunnessa, a child MP from Narshingdi. In response to this, the Deputy Speaker of National Parliament said, “I will communicate with the local administration of Narshingdi district to motivate the parents of Jebunnessa – to stop this early marriage from happening.”

The issue of negligence of monitoring signified that fake birth and marriage certificates are a big issue. In response to the matter of negligence in monitoring, the Deputy Speaker said, “Ministry of Law can play a major role in this. They should engage more manpower in their programs to ensure strict monitoring of marriage registration.” He added, “I will try to share these with the lawmakers at the Parliament and will also communicate with the local administration regarding these issues. Public and private media should step up to raise awareness on early marriage at rural level and people from all walks of life should shoulder them to fight this curse.”
From the intense pressure and sheer weight of responsibility of representing their districts at a national event, the 12th session of the Child Parliament also brought out the best in the delegation of children from all around the country. All the child MPs vowed to make the country better through children's rights movement and pledged to realise their goals.
After lunch, the annual election of the Child Parliament was held.

Child Parliament 2014 was organised in association with Bangladesh Shishu Academy; Save the Children, Plan and World Vision Bangladesh provided technical support.