Combating Child Marriages - Bedari

Bedari has been working on the issue for a long time. Initially, it worked with the Federal Government to bring about amendments to the existing law – Child Marriages Restraint Act 1929. In the meanwhile, 18^th Constitutional Amendment became operational which resulted in devolution of power to legislate on children’s issues to provincial legislatures.

Bedari turned its focus from the Federal legislature towards Punjab Assembly. Furthermore, it emerged from the various consultations with stakeholders, parents from rural and urban communities, young people, social workers, media and government officials that there was a need to introduce a comprehensive new law.

How it progressed

As Bedari was chalking out a plan to move forward, it joined hands with UNFPA in 2012 and started a comprehensive campaign to address the issue. Following are the highlights of this campaign.

The Consultations with Stakeholders

The two partners held many consultations with various stakeholders to find an effective way to deal with the issue. It discussed the issue with men, women, youth, rural and urban communities, religious and political leaders, and local opinion makers. Separate consultations were held with other stake holders including legal fraternity, medical practitioners, and officials of law enforcement agencies, political parties at regional and provincial level.

The Draft Bill

The outcome of all the consultations was shared with a lawyer, who prepared a draft bill Prohibition of Child Marriages in Punjab. Later, the bill was shared widely for feedback and comments from legal community as well as human rights experts and civil society organizations.

Advocacy and Lobbying

Individual and group meetings were conducted with over 60 MPAs of Punjab. The issue of child marriage was discussed in detail. Most of these meetings were very successful. An overwhelming majority of assembly members particularly women are in the favor of legislation to eradicate child marriages.

Press Conferences highlighting the issue of child marriages were held in five major cities, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Multan and Bahawalpur, of Punjab, and a provincial level conference was held in Lahore. The conference was a real success. The Minister for Population Welfare Punjab chaired the conference. Mr. IA Rehman, director HRCP was the guest of honor and government was represented by the Director General Social Welfare Department. All promised to support the cause by taking the process forward.