Children and youths across Bangladesh began to raise their voices to build a country free of child marriage and stop all forms of violence against children. Representatives from NGOs again came together to demand so that the government establishes a separate directorate for the welfare of children.
This call came from a national-level event held by World Vision Bangladesh (WVB) to celebrate its global campaign: “It Takes Me: To Stop Violence against Children”. The aim of the campaign is to empower children and young people to raise their voices to end violence against all children and build a country free from child marriage. The month of May has been designated to celebrate the campaign this year.
This year, the focus of the campaign is on the call to prevent child marriage and enhance awareness among youth and promote action in this regard. Children and young people across the country enthusiastically participated in the campaign under the slogan ‘Amplifying the voices of Young Change-makers to prevent child marriage’. After a month-long celebration with the participation and leadership of children and adolescents from marginalised communities from across the country, the campaign was celebrated at the national level on May 18 at a hotel in the capital. Some of the more important recommendations and proposals made during the campaign were: strengthening of the child marriage monitoring systems based on the National Action Plan 2018- 2030, the full activation of child marriage prevention committees at the local level, the creation of alternative livelihood opportunities for families susceptible to marrying off their children, the establishment of child marriage-free villages/unions/communities, the formalization of rules in light of the Child Marriage Act 2013, the effective implementation of the Government’s National Action Plan 2018-2030 to stop child marriage, ensuring the establishment of a separate directorate for child focused on guaranteeing child rights, protection, and holistic development.
The chairman of the National Human Rights Commission was present at the event as the Chief Guest. Kamal Uddin Ahmed, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Education Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury, MP, and Monika Islam, a young changemaker and youth representative from Sherpur district, were present as special guests. The event was presided over by World Vision Bangladesh Senior Director of Operations, Chandan Z Gomes, and moderated by a youth representative of the organisation, Durbar Adi. World Vision’s Deputy Director of Advocacy, Nishath Sultana moderated a panel discussion on ending child marriage and violence against children with the participation of guests and youth.
