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Gardens of disparity
Tea estate managements in Assam collaborate with the UN to promote gender equality. Child marriage is common among the socially excluded tea estate communities including ex-tea estate communities.
Winds of change are sweeping the rather isolated but self-contained labour communities within the tea gardens in Assam. For the first time, the tea estate managements have joined hands with the UNICEF to address issues of gender discrimination including child marriage and promoting the rights of the child.
“Child marriage often results in girls leaving schools, it impacts their health and early motherhood results in anaemia as the body is not mature enough to deal with marriage and motherhood,” Jenema Patia, community mobiliser of Muskaan Girls Club in Namroop Tea Estate. With a membership of 60 adolescent girls, the Club is hugely popular. “We come here every Sunday to discuss our issues including child marriage and try to find solutions and convince elders in the community that child marriage is not good for girls,” she adds.
This group saved a 17- year-old girl who was one of their members, from being thrown out from her house by her parents after she was spotted by her brother talking to a boy. The brother threatened to report the incident at home, and fearing admonition from the family, the girl spent the night alone in a tea garden. When she was brought home the next morning, the word spread like wild fire that she had eloped with the man. “The girl tried her best to explain the situation but the parents would just not believe her and wanted her out from the house for bringing a bad name to the family. It was because of our intervention that she is still at home and now wants to enrol in a school,” Jenema explained.
Tea cultivation is a predominant occupation in Assam and Dibrugarh district accounts for nearly 55 per cent of the tea estates in the State. Most of the workers are descendants of 19th and 20th century tribal migrants from Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Jharkhand and West Bengal who live in well demarcated labour lines within the estates as closed communities. Even after retirement from active employment, they continue to live close to their labour lines and follow the same customs and traditions as the rest of the community.
While Dibrugarh has a lower prevalence of child marriage compared to the State as a whole, the practice has been observed to be commonly adopted by the socially excluded tea estate communities including ex-tea estate communities. A study conducted by the Assam Branch of the Indian Tea Association (ABITA) in 2006 across 50 tea estates indicated that one fourth of the total respondents felt it was appropriate for girls to marry between the ages of 14 to 18 years. Besides generic factors which contribute to child marriage across the country, lack of education facilities (beyond primary schooling provided by the managements), availability of employment opportunities at an early age (women could get employed as early as 10 years for plucking of tea leaves and boys at 15 years) and the common practice of elopement among the young boys and girls were also cited as the reasons for early marriage.
In 2006, gaining access to communities living inside the tea estates was a major challenge and it could be obtained through ABITA. The UNICEF adopted a two pronged strategy with ABITA and set up the Adolescent Girls Clubs to create an atmosphere of openness where parents and the girls themselves were comfortable in discussing their issues with their peers. One of the key issues during meetings is child marriage and possible solutions to prevent it. There have been instances where club members who have had specific information on child marriage taking place in the community have successfully counselled family members against it. Between 2008 and 2010, 144 child marriage cases were reported by the Adolescent Girls Clubs in Dibrugarh and the members played an important role in preventing around 12 marriages by counselling. “The numbers may not be high but this is just a beginning of the process but the number could have been much more than 144,” Vedprakash Gautam, Child Protection Officer, Assam Field Office, UNICEF said.
“The tea estates management have also introduced changes in their practice and we now no longer extend loans to families where girls are married early,” Sandeep Ghosh, secretary of ABITA said. But this is always not successful, as the families often get loans from banks or can approach money-lenders that often add to their financial burden. It was through the Girls Club that a case of sexual abuse was also brought to the notice wherein a young girl was being sexually assaulted by her uncle with whom she was living. Once it became public, the girl was sent back to her mother. While no action has been taken on the erring uncle so far UNICEF hopes that ABITA would proactively take up the matter so that it is a deterrent, Mr Gautam said. In addition to AGCs, UNICEF also runs Young Child Survival Programme for mother and child health, hand wash programme for better hygiene and sanitation and several nutrition-based programmes in these tea estates.
Global activists against child marriage garner support in S.Asia
By Nita Bhalla
NEW DELHI, Feb 10 (TrustLaw) - Scores of South Asian charities struggling to curb high child-marriage rates are backing a global movement spearheaded by South African peace icon Archbishop Desmond Tutu to end the practice affecting millions of girls and women worldwide.
Representatives from charities in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka gathered in New Delhi last week at the regional launch of the "Girls Not Brides" alliance – created by Tutu, 80, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for speaking out against white minority rule in South Africa.
Now, as chairman of The Elders – a group of prominent people that include former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, former Irish President Mary Robinson and former U.S. President Jimmy Carter dedicated to addressing human rights – Tutu is trying to persuade governments and local communities to take child marriage more seriously.
"Women represent 50 percent of humanity and countries are holding themselves back in terms of their economic development by discriminating against girls and women," he told a press conference last week.
"We are saying 'imagine what would happen when women and girls are set free and can participate in decision-making.'"
The Elders, which launched the "Girls Not Brides" movement in New York last year said 80 organisations were already part of the alliance, including 15 from India, to share knowledge and coordinate their activities.
On his four-day visit to India Tutu was accompanied by Robinson and two other Elders – former Norwegian prime minister Gro Harlem Brundtland and Ela Bhatt, an activist who founded India's largest female trade unions. The four Elders said they are using their collective global weight to build up an international alliance of charities dedicated to ending child marriage.
Experts say many local and international non-government agencies who work on early marriage issues often work in isolation, far removed from others grappling with the same challenges – be it in Asia, Africa or the Middle East.
Worldwide, around 10 million girls under the age of 18 are married every year – often without their consent, before they are mentally or sexually ready for such a relationship. The practice is most prevalent in Africa, the Middle East and South Asia, despite laws in most countries banning it.
In a rapidly modernising region, tightly bound by traditional patriarchal views, South Asian women face a plethora of threats from sexual violence, dowry murders, discrimination in health, education and land rights as well as child marriage.
In India alone, 47 percent of women between the ages of 20 and 24 married before the legal age of 18, according the government's latest National Family Health Survey.
FORGET GOALS
Tutu linked the issue of child marriage to development.
"It's been shown that where child marriage is in vogue, six of the eight millennium development goals, you can forget about," he said referring to a string of goals 192 U.N. members agreed to implement by 2015.
The goals include reducing child and maternal mortality, ending poverty and hunger, providing universal education, gender equality and combating HIV/AIDS.
"You can forget obviously gender equality. You can forget about education because a girl leaves school when she gets married and you can forget about reducing poverty as she is hardly likely to earn a great deal with no education."
Child marriage also threatens the health of a young mother, he said, adding that a girl giving birth at 15 is five times more likely to die in the process than a girl of 19 or older. While her infant is 60 percent more likely to die.
He added that girls who were married, often to older men, had little control over their sex lives and were more likely to be infected by HIV/AIDS.
During the visit to India, the Elders also met with government officials and visited the impoverished eastern region of Bihar, where around 69 percent of girls are married before 18 years old, 48 percent before 15.
Robinson, who was the first female to become president in Ireland, said they had been impressed to see new initiatives such as Jagriti – a youth awareness programme run by Pathfinder International – which is helping to increase the average age of marriage.
"These teenagers were very smart and they desperately want to be part of their state and their country's incredible progress, but they know that getting married very young will hold them back," said Robinson, a former U.N. human rights commissioner.
"They are working hard to enlist the support of adults to help them complete their education and marry later. We get the sense that things are changing ... and we hope that progress can be made more quickly so that these wonderful young people can fulfill their dreams."
UN officials underline religions’ role in promoting global harmony
7 February 2012 – The President of the General Assembly Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser today stressed the potential of all of the world’s religions to promote global peace and stability, saying that faiths have common principles that can be used to bring about grater unity and harmony among people.
“We recognize and celebrate the values that are shared across religious traditions,” said Mr. Al-Nasser at a General Assembly event to mark the end of the annual World Interfaith Harmony Week, which was established by Member States through a resolution adopted by the Assembly in 2010.
“The common principles form a common ground that unites us in our rich diversity,” said Mr. Al-Nasser, noting that the UN was itself established in pursuit of universal values such as peace, freedom, human rights, dignity, and the oneness of humanity, which are also espoused by many of the world’s religions.
“These principles have been translated by Member States into the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” said Mr. Al-Nasser at the event, whose theme was ‘Common Ground for the Common Good.’
The common ground includes respect for human rights; affirmation of the equal value of all human beings; the importance of compassion and service to others; and the universal aspiration for peace, he added.
He announced that he will on 22 March convene a one-day thematic debate in the Assembly on “fostering cross-cultural understanding for building peaceful and inclusive societies,” which, he said, will draw on the discussions at last year’s 4th Forum of the UN Alliance of Civilizations in Doha, Qatar.
Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro noted that although faith is “the glue that often bonds communities and cultures around the world,” it was too often used as an excuse to emphasize differences and deepen divisions.
“Only by finding common cause in mutual respect for shared spiritual and moral values can we hope for harmony among nations and peoples,” she said.
She urged the interfaith community to speak out against extremism, advance tolerance, and stand firm for social justice, dignity and mutual understanding.
“Today’s event is testament to the benefits we can all derive from coming together and learning from each other,” said Ms. Migiro.
Read the original article here.Malda woman’s fight against child marriage
by Madhuparna Das
Even though, child marriages are unpopular, it still remains a social menace, which is rampant in rural areas. While the local administration looks incompetent at curbing this menace, an unassuming 21-year-old girl from a remote village in Malda has taken the mantle to eradicating this menace. Meet Anjali Burman, a resident of Balarampur village, a third-year student in Malda College.
Not only did Anjali manage to save herself from child marriage, she also managed to rescue seven other girls in the age group of 12 to 14 from the clutches of child marriage. Anjali's father is a daily labourer earning wages, who passed away five months back. Anjali has a younger brother who studies in a local school. The family is run by Anjali's mother as a bonded labourer. At the age of 15 , Anjali was told that she has be married off as her father will not be able to take care of the family any more. Anjali's marriage was also fixed. The family was putting pressure on her to get married early according to the community''s tradition.
But after she resisted her marriage, she did not sit idle. Anjali formed a small group with her friends in her village. Since then whenever, she used to get any news of a minor girl being married off, she with her friends used to reach the spot and they tried to convince the family members. However, Anjali always informed police and administration in resisting the marriages.
"In our locality, girls are married off at an early age. My parents also wanted to marry me off, but I resisted it. From my childhood, I had nutured dreams that I would be educated and would be financially independent. After I resisted my marriage, I always thought there were other girls like me in the area. And I know that how it is a difficult task for a village girl to resist the marriage. The whole village and the entire community stands against the girl in such cases. I took oath that would try my best not to allow any of the minor girls to be married," she said.
"Initially, I had faced difficulty from the villagers when I tried resist any minor girls' marriage in my village. But gradually, the villagers started supporting me. I got help from the police and local administration as well. The practice of child marriage might have become more unpopular, but it is still rampant in this areas," Anjali added.
Anjali imarried on her own condition five months back. But she is still continuing with her studies. "I want to complete my studies. I want to be admitted in an university and complete my post graduation. I dream of being a government officer and work for our state," she added.
Ending legalised violence against children: Global report 2011 Published
Published jointly by the Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children and Save the Children Sweden, Ending legalised violence against children: Global report 2011 reviews progress towards prohibition of corporal punishment of children throughout the world in the context of follow up to the UN Secretary General’s Study on Violence against Children. Based on detailed analyses of the work of international human rights treaty bodies and of the first cycle of the Universal Periodic Review, the report identifies states which appear to be making progress and those where reforms must be made. Information on active campaigns worldwide, recent research into the prevalence of corporal punishment and a table of the legality of corporal punishment in all settings in all states provide both an overview of the current situation and a context for increasing efforts to enact legislation which fully protects children from assault. Click here to download the full report.
A limited number of hard copies of the report are available: e mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
www.endcorporalpunishment.org
