NGO kicks against early marriage

Defence for Child International, a Non-Governmental Organization has called for moves against early and forced marriage for the Girl Child because it is against their rights and empowerment.

Mr. Peter Larbi, Programmes Manager of the organization, said violence was a pervasive problem that could undermine women, and thereby cause them to be inferior in society, especially when it comes to competition with males in the field of performance in every atmosphere of life.

Speaking at a programme organized by the students of St. Peter’s Anglican Primary and Junior High School at Asawase in Kumasi, as part of activities marking the International Day of Girl Child, Mr. Larbi stressed that it was incumbent on every girl child, young and adult, to fight for their rights to avoid early or forced marriage.

According to him, the NGO was working in collaboration with DOVSU, Prisons, Labour Department, NCCE, Department of Women and Children to ensure that the girl child was always protected to enable them become responsible in the society.

Mr. Larbi disclosed that their records indicate that the girl child in the Muslim communities were most dominating in early and force marriages for which the NGO had engaged some of the leaders of those communities towards stopping the practice as it was against the teaching of the Holy Quran.

Mrs. Debora Asamoah-Antwi, Field Co-coordinator expressed profound gratitude to leaders in the communities and the stakeholders towards the elimination of the practice. She underscored that the sensitization was good in increasing and creating of awareness of gender inequality in society.

The Co-ordinator referred to a case in which the NGO saved a 13-year-old girl from being forced to marry a 50-year- old man by her parents at Sepe-Doti, a suburb of Kumasi, following a tip off by members of the community.

Mrs. Asamoah-Antwi pleaded with the NCCE and other social groups to, as a matter of urgency, educate the public on the dangers of forced marriages on prospects of the individual, the society and the nation as a whole.