Nobel Peace Laureates Kailash Satyarthi and Leymah Gbowee have launched a nationwide campaign against child marriage. The campaign is being spearheaded by the Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation (KSCF), and was launched in Rajasthan’s Virat Nagar located two hours north of Jaipur. The campaign involved over 70,000 women and girls lighting lamps, and leading torchlight processions across 10,000 villages from over 500 districts in 26 states. Of these, 6,015 villages were included by KSCF and the rest were included by the government and other agencies.
“Child marriage is a violation of human rights and dignity, which unfortunately still has social acceptance. This social evil propels an unending list of crimes against children, especially against our daughters,” Satyarthi said. “A few weeks ago, I put out a call to make India child-marriage free. This spark ignited the flames of 70,000 women change-makers, proof that millions of women have felt suffocated by this age-old oppressive societal custom.”
“Child marriage is an appalling practice that exists globally. We must put an end to this human rights violation. Our collective humanity demands this,” said Gbowee.
The Child Marriage Free India campaign has three major objectives: to ensure the strict implementation of age laws, to enhance the participation of children and women by giving them free education till the age of 18 years, and to provide safety to children against sexual exploitation. Government agencies like the Railway Protection Force, Women and Child Development Departments of 14 states, state child protection authorities, state legal services authorities, anganwadis, district administrations—all have joined the campaign.
*Image courtesy: Twitter/K_Satyarthi