Sule Tomkinson is probably better know as Sule Bayrak to Footsteppers from Footstep 11, she is now married, we wish her many congratulations! She is currently in India involved in a very interesting project, we are delighted to hear from her....
After receiving my MA degree in human rights from the University of Essex I turned back to Istanbul, Turkey and worked in a job which is not related to human rights at all just to make a living. However, I did not feel satisfied with my life and what I was doing at all. This was followed by quitting my job in July 2008 and my marriage in August 2008. - My husband is Canadian and I met him 3 weeks after I turned back from Global Footsteps Jamaica conference in a club in London- My husband is Canadian and while waiting for my permanent residency status to Canada a research fund in child rights came to my knowledge by United Kingdom – India Education and Research Initiative. I got the scholarship and doing a research in different parts of India from early May to July. I basically meet with different human rights organisations that work on child marriages and try to communicate with child brides and try to understand the reasons that forced them to marriage. You can find an update about the facts of child marriage in India below.
It is the case that many children in parts of the developing world are forced to marriage. Some of these marriages originate in poverty, some out of a need to protect family honour, and some in order to provide stability during unstable social periods. If we exclude China, one in seven girls gets married before the age of 15 in the developing countries. This rate indicates the severity of the problem. Despite the fact that the child marriages affect both girls and boys in India, the child brides are far larger in numbers and impacts of the marriage on them constitute more serious human rights violations.
Today, 6.4 million Indian girls under the age of 18 are married and 130.000 are widowed. Nationwide, 24 percent of 20-24 years-old girls are married by age 15, whereas 50 percent are married by age 18. The parliament of India adopted the Child Marriage Restraint Act in 1978, thereby setting 21 as minimum age for men and 18 for women respectively. But small fines and short periods of imprisonment for the men who married young girls were not able to stop the practice.
The outcomes of marriages of young girls are the following: First of all, the denial of the right to education both denies the development of female children and forces them into a marriage with economic dependence. Secondly, young girls are hardly knowledgeable on reproductive health since most of them do not attend the secondary education where the sexuality education is given. Further, young girls’ bodies are not ready biologically to conceive a child that results in high infant and maternal mortality rates and they are more exposed to sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV/AIDS because of lack of sexual education. According to a research conducted in Karnataka, India 85 percent of girls conceive during the first year of their marriage. Finally, the married young girls experience physical, emotional and psychological exploitation as well as isolation.
Child marriage is a very sensitive issue and law alone is not enough to solve it since the idea of marrying one’s daughter before puberty is entrenched in rural culture. The police and child marriage prevention officers generally do not intervene to mass marriage ceremonies which take place during certain festivals. The statistics show that child marriage is especially related with poverty and non-education. What is more, women do not have a voice in marrying their children male dominance continues to reproduce this structure again and again. Girl child finds herself trapped in a vicious circle for the whole of her life. In order to solve this problem, it is very significant that the state control is tightened on child marriage issues, and all marriages should be registered. The continuation of education for the girl child should be provided as well as mechanisms to not find herself trapped in a so called marriage.
It is the case that many children in parts of the developing world are forced to marriage. Some of these marriages originate in poverty, some out of a need to protect family honour, and some in order to provide stability during unstable social periods. If we exclude China, one in seven girls gets married before the age of 15 in the developing countries. This rate indicates the severity of the problem. Despite the fact that the child marriages affect both girls and boys in India, the child brides are far larger in numbers and impacts of the marriage on them constitute more serious human rights violations.
Today, 6.4 million Indian girls under the age of 18 are married and 130.000 are widowed. Nationwide, 24 percent of 20-24 years-old girls are married by age 15, whereas 50 percent are married by age 18. The parliament of India adopted the Child Marriage Restraint Act in 1978, thereby setting 21 as minimum age for men and 18 for women respectively. But small fines and short periods of imprisonment for the men who married young girls were not able to stop the practice.
The outcomes of marriages of young girls are the following: First of all, the denial of the right to education both denies the development of female children and forces them into a marriage with economic dependence. Secondly, young girls are hardly knowledgeable on reproductive health since most of them do not attend the secondary education where the sexuality education is given. Further, young girls’ bodies are not ready biologically to conceive a child that results in high infant and maternal mortality rates and they are more exposed to sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV/AIDS because of lack of sexual education. According to a research conducted in Karnataka, India 85 percent of girls conceive during the first year of their marriage. Finally, the married young girls experience physical, emotional and psychological exploitation as well as isolation.
Child marriage is a very sensitive issue and law alone is not enough to solve it since the idea of marrying one’s daughter before puberty is entrenched in rural culture. The police and child marriage prevention officers generally do not intervene to mass marriage ceremonies which take place during certain festivals. The statistics show that child marriage is especially related with poverty and non-education. What is more, women do not have a voice in marrying their children male dominance continues to reproduce this structure again and again. Girl child finds herself trapped in a vicious circle for the whole of her life. In order to solve this problem, it is very significant that the state control is tightened on child marriage issues, and all marriages should be registered. The continuation of education for the girl child should be provided as well as mechanisms to not find herself trapped in a so called marriage.
No comments:
Post a Comment