Thirty months at Kurigram headquarters Forty-one child marriages took place

In the last 30 months, 41 cases of child marriage have occurred in Kurigram Sadar Upazila. Also, 17 miscarriages have been prevented. This information was presented at a discussion meeting on 'Civil Society and Organizations Linkage with Youth Leaders to End Child and Forced Marriage' organized by the Child Not Bride project at the local RDRS training room on Thursday (September 5) morning.

Sadar Upazila Executive Officer Saida Parveen, Deputy Director of District Youth Development Directorate Ali R Reza, Deputy Director of Islamic Foundation Maruf Raihan, President of District Imam Association Principal Noor Bakhat, President of District Kazi Association Nuruzzaman, Journalist Humayun Kabir Surya, Project of Child Not Bride Project spoke at the meeting. Coordinator Abdullah Al Mamun and others.
With the financial and technical support of Plan International, RDRS Bangladesh's Child Not Bride project informed that from March 2022 to August this year, a total of 1,336 marriages were held in 8 unions and one municipality of Kurigram Sadar Upazila. Among them, 1 thousand 295 registered marriages. There were 41 unregistered marriages. During this time, 41 child marriages occurred. In addition, 17 child marriages were prevented by the young men and women of the area. Among the incidents of child marriage, the highest number of child marriages occurred in Holokhana Union with 16. Besides, 11 in Bhogdanga, 10 in Jatrapur, 9 in the municipality, 6 in Ghogadah, 3 each in Panchgachi and Mughalbasa Union, 2 in Belgacha and 1 in Kanthalbari.
Abdullah Al Mamun, project coordinator of the Child Not Bride project, said that local stakeholders are being worked on to prevent child marriage through the union-based youth platform. Already 1 thousand 230 vulnerable children have been listed at the headquarters and they have been taken under long-term training in various trades. So that they can establish themselves as entrepreneurs by acquiring skills through training.
Kurigram Sadar Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Saida Parveen said that everyone should come forward to protect the girls from the social evil called child marriage. As the project is being implemented with youth in remote areas; Therefore, we are ready if any kind of cooperation is needed to prevent child marriage there. So that the people of Kurigram district come forward as self-motivated to completely prevent child marriage.