The role of parents is a significant factor in reducing child marriage as they are not aware of the physical and emotional horrors of child marriage, experts said.
They were speaking in a seminar titled “Parents can stop child marriage” organized by Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF) on Sunday at CIRDAP Auditorium.
Speaking as the chief guest, Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni said in order to create awareness among parents, everyone – including the government, non-governmental organizations as well as other professionals – should be proactive.
“Even If a girl gets married, we have to make sure that they can continue their education afterward,” she added.
The minister added that the government's initiative to eradicate child marriage for all children under the age of 15 by 2021 was hampered due to the pandemic. “Still, the government plans to stop the marriage of girls under the age of 18 by 2041.
A Unicef report said 51.4% of girls are getting married before turning 18 in Bangladesh.
According to MJF research, 13,886 girls got married between the age of 10 and 17 years during the pandemic. The research was conducted in 21 districts of the country.
It also suggested that in 78% of the cases, parents were found to be prime instigators behind child marriage.
“Human rights of many children are violated due to early marriage. The mass campaign is needed to stop child marriage,” said Nasima Begum, chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).
Moderator of the seminar Shaheen Anam, executive director of MJF, said: “Almost all parents think that their children are at risk and that is why they want to marry off their children early. But they may not realize that their daughter is going to face a greater risk.
"Parents need to understand that child marriage causes a child to drop out of school, which in turn reduces or eliminates his or her social interaction, empowerment, and future employment opportunities,” she added.
Emphasizing the role of the state, Taslima Yasmin, associate professor of the department of Law at Dhaka University said: “We need to look into the responsibility of the state as well to prevent child marriage.
“We are only emphasizing on creating awareness but the factors such as bringing back the child into school, whether there is any social safety net and social stigma remain overlooked,” she added.