KARACHI: Speakers at a consultation on child marriage law on Thursday underlined the need for effective implementation of the laws pertaining to children and women rights. They called for creating awareness among masses about the effects of early child marriages.
Parliamentarians, members of various official commissions on rights, government officers, representatives of police department and civil society organizations were speaking at a consultation “Implementation of Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act-2013” jointly organized by Sindh Human Rights Commission (SHRC) and National Commission on the Rights of the Child (NCRC) at a local hotel.
The Chairperson of Sindh Child Rights Commission Ms Shamim Mumtaz chaired the consultation, whereas prominent speakers included Members of Sindh Assembly Mangla Sherma, Kulsoom Chandio and Farhat Semeen Soomro; Chairperson of SHRC Justice (Retd) Majida Razvi, Chairperson of Sindh Commission on Status of Women Ms. Nuzhat Shirin, Member, National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) Anis Haroon, Acting Chairman of National Commission on the Rights of Child Jawadullah Khan, Member, National Commission on the Rights of Child Iqbal Ahmed Detho, DIG Police Sharjeel Kharal, UNICEF representative Mehwish Maria, Secretary of Social Welfare department. Dr. Shirin Narejo, child rights consultant Ms. Sarah Zaman, Member of SHRC Zulfiqar Shah and others.
The speakers observed that in rural areas children and women are facing malnutrition. Maternal mortality rate is quite higher in rural Sindh. Early age marriages are one of the main reasons for these social problems, they added. The experts underscored societal and behaviour changes among masses. For this purpose they emphasized increasing literacy rate especially in the rural areas of Sindh.
Speakers pointed out that in the flood relief camps, child marriages are reported. Economics and security are the main reasons for early marriages of the girls in poor families, they opined. In her remarks, Chairperson of Sindh Child Rights Commission Ms. Shamim Mumtaz, MPA said every case of the child marriage is not reported in the media. She asked the media to play a vital role in creating awareness among masses.
Poverty is one the main causes of child rights abuses in our society, she said adding that the vulnerable sections of the society should be provided social protection. Chairperson, Sindh Human Rights Commission Justice (Retd) Majida Razvi said child marriage incidents are increasing in Sindh, despite passage of the law. She said implementation of the laws is the main problem.
She underlined the need for uniformity of laws because marriage age is different in provinces. Sindh is the first province which has fixed 18 years as the minimum age for marriage, she said. Ms. Anis Haroon, member of NCHR (Sindh) it is a big violation of the rights of a girl if she is married before the age of 18 year or gives birth to a child. Maternal mortality ratio, malnourishment is a big challenge, she remarked.
She said parents think about the security of their girl child so they get them married early. But they don’t consider post marriage impacts on the lives of girls, she added. According to her, women are considered a commodity in our society. Maternal deaths are rampant.
She suggested making a model district in Sindh, where all basic facilities are provided and laws are implemented. There would be visible decline in the cases of child marriage, she added. Jawadullah NCRC acting Chairman said that the Commission has reviewed important laws pertaining to child rights in the country.
In his presentation, Iqbal Detho, Member, NCRC from Sindh said that during the making of the laws and its rules he lawmakers make some compromises. The same happened at the time of making of Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act-2013. According to him, local governments are responsible for registration of marriages and issuance of birth certificates.
Detho said Nikah registrars’ mapping and training are required. There is a provision of formation of District Monitoring Committees, but no budget provision for meetings of the committees is available. He urged all the stakeholders to identify gaps in implementation of the law.
Child rights expert Sara Zaman said sometimes child marriage is understood as girl child marriage. “We don’t focus on boys’ marriage”. She said due to disasters, people suffer severe traumas. incidents of child marriage, trafficking, rape are rampant in the flood relief camps in Sindh. According to her, poverty propels early age marriages. Child marriage is a social, political and deeply economic issue, she said.
Mehwish Maria, a representative of UNICEF, said after Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh had the highest rate of child marriages. Quoting a UNICEF research, she pointed out that there is high rate of people’s acceptance about child marriage.
She said the flood disaster is the largest in history and women are the most affected section of the society. She said in Sindh birth registration is only 28 percent. DIG Police Sharjeel Kharal said under this Act, police were empowered. Violation of the Act is a non-bailable and cognizable offense. Kharal said police had received training on this Act. He admitted that there was a shortage of female police personnel in rural areas.
Nuzhat Shirin, Chairperson Sindh Commission on Status of Women said the Commission had reviewed many laws pertaining to rights of children and women. She pointed out that the Child Protection Authority had been established, but Child Protection Units are not active at district level. Dr. Shirin Narejo, Secretary of the social welfare department said local traditions are the main problem in implementation of laws. She underlined the need to incentivize the registration of birth and Nikah.