SDG Goal 5.3: “Eliminate all harmful practices, such as
child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation.”
Child marriage is violation of human rights; robbing the young of the chance to be children – the opportunity for an education. Child marriage leads to separation from family
and friends; dependent on their husbands these children are often deprived of their rights to both health and safety.
Latest NEWS: A UNICEF report released at the African Union Girls Summit in Lusaka, Zambia, 26/27 November 2015, shows that the
total number of child brides in Africa will more than double, rising from 125
million to 310 million over the next 35 years, largely because of slow rates of
reduction, combined with rapid population growth. "Worldwide more than 700 million women and girls alive today were married before their 18th birthday" Source: A Profile of Child Marriage in Africa: UNICEF
Wilfrida Hendrickx SI Representative to the United Nations
Geneva Centre,
interviews Mohinder Watson, Founder of Action on Child, Early and Forced Marriage (ACE&FM) on Day Three of 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence.
Mohinder Watson is a British Asian who escaped
from an intended arranged marriage in the UK as a teenager. An academic researcher, Mohinder works in the field of child marriage and in 2014, founded Action on Child, Early and Forced Marriage (ACE&FM), an international NGO dedicated to advancing awareness, research and education on child, early and forced marriage, with a view to ending this practice.
In particular the NGO aims to highlight these practices amongst immigrant communities in Europe, Canada and the US, Australia and other ‘western’ countries where many people are still unaware that such practices occur. Mohinder would be interested to hear from survivors of child marriage as well as experts and academics researching the topic and can be contacted at mohinderw@bluewin.ch
Photo: Mohinder Watson, Founder of Action on Child, Early and Forced Marriage (ACE&FM)
Wilfrida: Why did you become involved in the issue of child, early and forced marriage?
Mohinder: This issue has personal significance for me because
as a teenager I was being coerced into a marriage I did not want, to a young
man chosen by my parents. For decades I was unable to speak about my experience
but by chance I became involved with women’s human rights organisations in 2012
and realised that women were not speaking out about forced marriage. I then
decided that I should share my experience as it had the potential to help improve
understanding of the issue and also help prevent girls from going through a
similar or worse experience. With the help of an international
multi-disciplinary team from Switzerland, USA, Honduras, Mexico, Democratic
Republic of Congo, Denmark and England we established an NGO in December 2014
to advocate against child, early and forced marriage.
Wilfrida: What do you aim to achieve with your organization?
Mohinder: Our aim is to advocate to prevent and eliminate child, early and forced
marriage because this complex human rights, social, health and development issue
affects millions of girls around the world, every year. We plan to do this through
changing attitudes and behaviours related to CEFM. This will include advocacy at
the UN with the Human Rights Council, World Health Organisation as well as
working with grassroots level organisations in different countries with the aim
of bridging the gap between the UN and grassroots based organisations. This
network will be expanded gradually to include more countries. Other related
objectives include producing advocacy and education and training materials and conducting
research. A particular focus for us is the problem of CEFM amongst diaspora
communities in western countries such as in Europe, (where my own experience took
place) as well as North America and Australia. As part of this work, I am trying
to connect with other survivors of CEFM to create a platform for advocacy as
well as with other academic researchers on the topic.
To give you can example of our work so far, we started our UN advocacy work
with a joint side event panel session during the March 2015 Human Rights
Council session entitled “Child, Early, Forced Marriage: Turning
Recommendations into Actions”. On this panel I shared my personal experience.
Other speakers included Ambassador Yvette Stevens of Sierra Leone, Catherine
Godin, Deputy Permanent Representative of Canada to the UN and Jane Connors who
was then Director of Research at the Office of the High Commissioner on Human
Rights. Nyaradzai Gumbonzvanda, the African Union’s Ambassador for ending child
marriage moderated the session. Discussions from this panel were used to inform
discussions in June 2015 for a Substantive Resolution on CEFM.
Wilfrida: Why do you think child, early and forced
marriage is not considered a problem in many ‘Western’ countries?
"Firstly I believe we are at a point
now where CEFM is increasingly being recognised as a problem in developing
countries across Europe, and other places. The UK where I am from, is taking a
lead role in protecting girls at risk and has for example established a special
Forced Marriage Unit, a joint initiative between the Home Office and the Police.
This unit provides services such as a national telephone helpline, direct intervention
to protect girls at risk and awareness training to the different professional
groups involved. Some groups have also been established to work on this at the
European level. The issue of CEFM is already well documented in countries like
Canada where the Government is very committed to addressing this issue. More
recently CEFM is also being highlighted in the US and Australia. In the UK
school children and staff are made aware of the issue and to be vigilant if
friends disappear from school.
However one major factor is that we
do not yet know the true extent of the problem amongst diaspora communities in
Western countries due to the lack of reliable statistics. Perhaps this is not
surprising, given we are dealing with a long standing, deeply ingrained
phenomena which is both sensitive and illegal and is fiercely protected by the
communities which practice it. Despite increasing awareness CEFM, it remains
largely hidden from the Police and child protection agencies.
It must also be recognised that these
statistics will only tell us the official numbers of cases reported to the
Police, child protection agencies or NGOs. From my personal knowledge of
growing up in an Asian community in England, these numbers will only likely
represent the tip of the iceberg. Most girls would be too afraid to come
forward to seek help or make complaints against their families or take them to
court. Many girls may not even be aware that child protection agencies and
other support structures exist.
Another factor why CEFM is not
considered a problem in many western countries is that the absolute numbers of cases
of CEFM in Europe, North America and other western countries are very small
compared to Africa and South Asia so media attention is focused on the areas
of highest prevalence. There may also be a lack of investment in research in
western countries".
Wilfrida: What can we as individuals do to ensure girls are not at risk?
"Unfortunately as long as parents and
communities attach such high value to a girl’s virginity and family honour and consider
the marriage process as a financial transaction, girls will always be at risk. Therefore
root causes such as poverty and low levels of education must be addressed.
However we can empower girls through education, including human rights training,
provide vocational skills so they can become economically independent and encourage
them to pursue their dreams, develop their critical thinking and life skills
and give them confidence to challenge the relevance today of the customs that
have been passed down from generation to generation. We can educate communities
to help them see the benefits of allowing girls more opportunities and choices
other than marriage. We can ensure teachers, police or social workers can
intervene quickly to protect girls. We can educate school children to care
about their friends and alert teachers and others if children suddenly
disappear from school. Additionally, we can publish articles in the press to
keep media attention focused on CEFM as well as highlighting its illegality".
Wilfrida: How can NGOs like Soroptimist International support
the work of grassroots groups working to stop CEFM?
"Umbrella organisations such as
Soroptimist International can support local organisations financially,
especially in times of austerity, provide technical expertise and help to bring
national issues to the attention of the UN and global policy makers. They can
help translate resolutions etc in a way that will aid their implementation on
the ground and keep national NGOs abreast of developments at the UN and interpret
and analyse what these mean in real terms for NGOs".
Wilfrida: What role do you think men and boys have in
stopping CEFM?
"Men and boys have a very important
role to play in stopping CEFM. In fact I believe the practice cannot change
without their engagement and commitment. In my own family, my older brothers
largely dictated what my younger sister and I were or were not allowed to do.
The rules were very clear as were the consequences if we did not adhere to
them. My brothers were very strict about our manner of dress, and going out and
wearing make-up were forbidden. They were overly protective to the point that
we were not even allowed to join in any extra-curricular activities after school
or go on school trips. My nephew who was 10 years younger than me, was trained
from a young age to watch me if we were out to ensure that I did not speak to
any boys. So boys from a young age should be educated about the harm CEFM does
and persuaded that girls deserve the same chances in life as boys. They can help
by refusing such marriages themselves if they do not want them, refusing to
marry under age young girls or girls who do not openly consent to the marriage.
Appropriate channels for this messaging might be to use cricket for example as
this is a national sport in the Indian and Pakistani communities, like football
and rugby are in other countries. It might also be helpful to involve high
profile male celebrities, sports personalities or Bollywood film stars as male
champions for the cause. Other popular channels may be the cinema, TV, radio etc".
Wilfrida: How can NGO’s help girls who have experienced CEFM?
"Many NGOs now work
on providing services locally to girls at risk of CEFM as well as those who are
already married. The types of services provided include everything from psychological
counselling, telephone help lines, financial support, help setting up a new
life away from the family, education and vocational training, obtaining legal
help to enable them to divorce, providing shelter and accommodation etc".
"Soroptimist International would like to thank both Wilfrida and Mohinder for their time in taking part in the #16days campaign and we wish Mohinder every success with your NGO, Action on Child,
Early and Forced Marriage."
Find out more about the African Union Girls Summit, organized by the Department of Social Affairs of
the African Union Commission (AUC) in collaboration with the Government
of the Republic of Zambia by clicking HERE and on the image above.
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