Kailash Satyarthi launches nationwide campaign for ‘Child Marriage Free India’

Addressing the occasion on Sunday, he said, “I support the Government of India’s proposal to increase the marriageable age of girls from 18 to 21. I call upon faith leaders to speak out and ensure that all those who perform weddings, even at the village level do not perpetuate this crime against children. I call on all the caterers, decorators, banquet hall owners, bands and others to not provide their services for these weddings and not indulge in this criminal act. For those of you who are stopping child marriage in your villages, you are not alone. I am with you. As your brother, I will protect and support you in every possible manner. I will not leave your side in this fight.”

Another Nobel Peace Laureate Leymah Gbowee, who is from Liberia and was present on the occasion, said, “Child marriage is an appalling practice that exists globally. We must put an end to this human rights violation. Our collective humanity demands this.”

Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation (KSCF) will spearhead the biggest ever campaign to raise public awareness against child marriage. As a part of the campaign, women and girls led people in lighting lamps, torchlight procession in around 10,000 villages (6,015 villages by KSCF and rest by the government’s and other agencies) from over 500 districts in 26 states. Around 20 million people participated in the launch of the campaign from across the country and pledged to end child marriage.

The Sunday’s programme was the biggest ever single-day campaign launched at the grassroots level in India against child marriage. This campaign is the biggest grassroots movement against any social evil in the world, said officials. “The government agencies, including Railway Protection Force (RPF), Women and child development department of 14 states, state child protection authorities, state legal services authorities, anganwadis and district administration of several state governments joined in support of the nationwide campaign,” said the officials.

Many people, including women and girls, who have been child marriage survivors and those young child leaders who have successfully stopped child marriages appealed unitedly to the nation to take a decisive stand against the practice to end the scourge in our society.

Highlighting the plight of the child marriage survivors, Satyarthi said, “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.

“A few weeks ago, I put out a call to make India child marriage free. This spark ignited the flames of 70,000 women changemakers, proof that millions of women have felt suffocated by this age old oppressive societal custom,” he said.