STOP CHILD MARRAIGES- an initiative of SSD Karauli, Rajasthan

One of the most important tenets of Child rights is ensuring their basic rights to good health, nutrition, education, and freedom from violence, abuse, and exploitation. Child marriage deprives children of all these rights, denying them the opportunity to develop into fully empowered individuals. As Karauli has the highest cases of Child marriage in Rajasthan due to lack of awareness among the community and other reasons, this campaign which has been started from 2nd Oct will be extremely useful and help them in taking proactive measures to eradicate the menace of child marriage in Rajasthan.

International day of Girl child: Theme for 2012: Ending Child marriage

Venue- Govt. Girls Senior Secondary School

Society for Sustainable Development (SSD) Ngo has celebrated the International day of Girl child in the Karauli district of Rajasthan, India with Govt. and local departments, staff, and teachers along with more than 500 girls. The chief guest was the District Magistrate of Karauli. Child Development Project Officer and Family counselor, Karauli was the special guest at the event. Child rights volunteer from SSD’s Rohit Bijalwan started the program by welcoming the chief guest, School staff, and other officials. He spoke on the agenda of this event, the objective of our campaign which has been already started, and the importance of this day among girls.

The Chief Guest of the event District Magistrate Mr. R.S Jakhar addressed young girls’ children on their rights and says to take care of their personal hygiene. He said education will play a key role to stop child marriages in Karauli and also promised that if anyone is found involved in such child marriages or promoting it in our district, the administration will take severe actions against it. He also discussed what are the obstacles in achieving the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) and in the development of healthy communities.

Mrs. Meena (CDPO, Karauli) interacted with girls and shared her own experience. She discussed the negative effects and the risks associated with child marriages among adolescent girls’ i.e. unwanted pregnancies, HIV, and disconnect from basic education. She said pregnancy complications

are the leading cause of death for girls in the age group of 15-19. She attracted everyone's attention to making education one of the best strategies for protecting girls and combating child marriage. She also spoke on what are the prerequisite precautions during menstruation and emphasized a regular visit to Aanganwari Kendra.

Mrs. Sunita Sharma who is a well-known family counselor in Karauli also discussed issues related to domestic and sexual violence in young couples. She says, that more than 5 cases come per day of domestic and sexual violence to her and early child marriage is the only reason for it.

Finally, SSD’s Director discussed children's rights and said there are problems especially related to child marriage in our district but there are again opportunities to work on it. He said by educating and creating awareness to stop child marriage will not serve the purpose. We also need to make joint efforts with Govt and other NGOs not to work in isolation.