Youth fight against child marriage

PEP Forum Uganda

According to statistics, Uganda is home to 1.3 million girls aged 15-17. Just over 40 percent of them are married, and each year, about half a million children at risk were married before they turn 18.

Every minute a girl risks getting married in Uganda - youth in Uganda is taking up the fight against child marriage which is very harmful because families produce children they cannot take care of, lose schooling and struggle to get a paid job in life.

The situation for young girls needs to be changed in collaboration with:

- Schools,

- Health centers,

- Marketplaces, and

- Police stations

to inform and report on childhoods that have been named the greatest societal challenge and recently launched youth campaigns to put and end to the practice Children with children and end the child marriage.

There are many sad stories about girls because they are not separate from their husbands. Those who have been able to separate have become youth without schooling or any job - the challenge is that their husbands either flee or negotiated with the girls families and are released from police.

According to statistics from the UN, at least one out of five girls getting married before reaching the age of 15. Up to 70 percent of all teenage girls are mothers and wives. According to Ugandan sources, poverty, lack of education and traditional beliefs are the main causes of childbirth and top of that the biggest cause of child marriage is poor parenting. Parents must be there for their daughters, guide them, and push them in the right direction.

It's important to spread knowledge about children's rights, identify different types of child abuse and report any incidents to the police because the great motivation behind child marriage is poverty.

Parents give away their daughters in the hope of getting money, and for that reason parents should be better informed and take greater responsibility: parents know little about children's rights and they give children too much freedom even though Uganda has laws prohibiting child marriage - but they must be enforced to be effective.

Another challenge is great corruption: when police report incidents, parents negotiate with both husbands and police. They hide evidence and take wrong action. For those parents who actually want help, poverty is a major obstacle: both health authorities and the police are asking for large sums of money to help.

According to the recent report Working Together to End Child Marriage it's possible to prevent at least one million child marriage before 2030 by letting:

- Girls complete high school.

Preventing child marriage will also bring huge economic benefits to Uganda:

- According to the World Bank, it will increase the economy by $ 2.4 billion a year and provide a higher standard of living to the people.

With a large joint effort, children can be children longer. PEP Forum is one of many youths organisations who are leading the fight for children's freedom: the job does not produce results today, or tomorrow, but the struggle will make life better for another generation of Ugandan children once in the future.