Child marriage should be prevented: NEDAN Foundation

KOKRAJHAR, Sept 15: Adolescent and Child Right Network Assam (ACRNA), in collaboration with the Kokrajhar district administration, organized a multi-stakeholder consultation on child marriage at the CIT conference hall on Friday.

Child marriage being one of the biggest issues confronting children, the ACRNA has taken up the issue as one of its focus areas in partnership with UNICEF, Assam State office. ACRNA is a network of organizations working on the issues of adolescents and child rights in Assam. Number of child marriage cases registered at CHILDLINE, Kokrajhar from May 2016 to September, 2018 is 36 cases in 2016, 75 cases in 2017 and 102 cases in 2018.

The programme started with lighting of the lamp by the Deputy Commissioner of Kokrajhar, Niranjan Baruah who attended the function as a chief guest, Manna Biswas, Child Protection Specialist-UNICEF, Prakash Medi, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Fr. Lukose and various other dignitaries and student unions attended the consultation programme and shared the preventive mechanism of child marriages.

The Deputy Commissioner of Kokrajhar, Niranjan Baruah said, “Child marriage is a global issue but it should be addressed in different areas looking into the matter according to the tradition and customs of that particular area.” He further added that the issue of child marriage should be addressed in the grassroots level by creating awareness. He also signed a signature campaign.

Chairperson of NEDAN Foundation, Digambar Narzary said, “Child marriage is a social evil which should be prevented.” Dr Chiranjeeb Kakoti, Director of NESPYM and coordinator of ACRNA, said that ACRNA’s main aim was to work for the six districts of the State where child marriage cases were higher. These districts are Dhemaji, Barpeta, Kokrajhar, Dhubri, Kamrup metro and Lakhimpur.