Participants of a rally stressed the need for awareness in preventing child-marriage in society.
Terming child marriage as a curse, they said it caused poverty as well as discrimination between genders.
The programme was jointly organised by Jatiya Mahila Sangstha and Bangladesh Mahila Parishad in front of Ahswini Kumar Hall in Barisal city.
The slogan of the event was “No more early marriage.”
Speakers at the rally said Bangladesh had one of the world’s highest rates of child marriage. Every year, millions of girls are forced into early marriage.
At least 158 countries, including Bangladesh, have set the legal age of marriage at 18 years and made birth and marriage registration compulsory for every citizen, but these laws are rarely enforced, they said.
Child, early, and forced marriage violate millions of childrens’ rights, disrupts their education, blocks their opportunity to gain vocational and life skill developments and increases their risk of sexual and domestic violence.
Early marriage limits the ability of girls to participate in economic and social spheres as well as increase maternal and neonatal death rate.
They also called for raising awareness among parents, socio-cultural-religious leaders on the risks of early marriage.
Md Shohidul Alam, deputy commissioner, Barisal, presided over the programme participated by representatives from different government and non-government, professional, socio-cultural-religious-right organisations.