Opinion on: http://www.unfpa.org/news/say-idont-fight-child-marriage-valentines-day#
An outraged passer bye tries to get the young bride's attention during a staged photo shoot drawing attention to the issue of
child marriage in Lebanon. © KAFA (enough) Violence & Exploitation, Lebanon - See more at: http://www.unfpa.org/news/say-
idont-fight-child-marriage-valentines-day#sthash.iEYo9Z0u.dpuf
“A photo shoot was staged by the organization KAFA (enough) Violence & Exploitation, Lebanon, as part of its UNFPA-supported campaign to stop child marriage in the country. Globally, 1 in 3 girls living in low- and middle-income countries marry before turning 18, and almost one-third of these before their 15th birthday, according to UNFPA estimates. Kafa means “enough” in Arabic, and this Valentine’s Day UNFPA is calling supporters of women’s and children’s human rights worldwide to also say they’ve had enough of child marriage by posting #IDONT online.”
Child marriages is on the rise. Each year, nearly 15 million girls, some as young as 8 or 9, are forced into marriage worldwide, many to men who are, like KAFA’s fake groom, decades their senior. If current trends continue, an additional 1.2 billion girls will be forced into child marriage by 2050. If this rate continues to grow, our girls will be in danger and we won’t have enough steps to take than in order to prevent situations like this. We need to do something in order to get this horrific and sensitive situation under our control.
Personally, I have both love and hate feeling towards using networking such as social media in order to raise awareness. But in this case, I strongly support KAFA’s preventive solutions in order to stop child marriages that are happening all around the world. If you’ve followed my past several blog posts, you’ve probably read about the harm and damages that early marriage causes to a young girl or a boy's intellectual and physical growth. mental pressure and physical abusement makes these young ones crunch in a corner and forces them to see a world through dark lenses. If we can’t bring our young ones from those dark corners, we might just earn yourself a future with no brightness.
“In Lebanon, the age of consent is set by religious tribunals and varies from region to region, but in certain areas, girls as young 14 can marry without parental consent, and for those with a parent's approval, the legal age is as low as 9”. Religious rules does permit one to marry if there is certain needs but the child marriages that are being hold have no religious relations at all. Religion just serve as a purpose and an excuse for them to marry a young child. Even though society and religions might permit us to do something, we have to come together as humans with positive mindsets and decide what’s really good and not good for us to do and for the coming generations.
Such actions tha KAFA raises more concern to the public on what is going on. Many might believe that it is not their “business” to interfere with other relations but if the other relation doesn’t seem valuable, a stranger might just need to step in and do what’ll be best for all. We can’t always blame parents for letting their child go. YES, they hold majority of the blame but economic issues are floating around in such countries that parents have no choice but give their child away in exchange of money. Organizations like KAFA should exist more and we need to take more actions such as the fake photoshoot and #IDONT in both regular and special occasions in order to bring more awareness to the community behalf child marriages.
Sources
"Say #IDONT to Fight Child Marriage This Valentine's Day." Say #IDONT to Fight Child Marriage This Valentine's Day. Accessed February 15, 2016. http://www.unfpa.org/news/say-idont-fight-child-marriage-valentines-day#.
