Kalikot advances towards eliminating child marriage

BY PREM RAJ SIMKHADA,Kalikot, Aug. 27: After the declaration of Ward No. 4 and Ward No. 5 of Suvakalika Rural Municipality in Kalikot district of Karnali Province as child marriage prohibited wards, the number of wards prohibiting child marriage has reached 14 in Kalikot district. Ward No. 4 and Ward No. 5 were declared as child marriage prohibited wards on Friday and Thursday respectively. 

So far, only 14 out of 82 wards in Kalikot district have been declared as child marriage prohibited wards. Under the initiative of the local government and in cooperation with the Save the Children and Karnali Integrated Rural Development and Research Centre (KIRDARC) Nepal, till today, 14 different wards of Tilagufa Municipality and Suvakalika Rural Municipality of Kalikot have been declared child marriage prohibited wards.

A joint programme organised by Save the Children, KIRDARAC Nepal and Ward No. 4 with the slogan 'Let's not talk about marriage until we reach the age 20, conception at the mature age is the solution to safe life' to declare the wards as child marriage prohibited wards.

Speaking at the programme, ward chair of Ward No. 4 Pradeep Chaulagai said that they had been able to control child marriage in the ward through persistent efforts. He said that all 14 wards had met 15 indicators and 19 procedures required to be declared as child marriage prohibited wards.

Out of 11 wards in Tilagufa Municipality, Ward No 1 to 8 have been declared as child marriage prohibited wards, and Ward No. 1 to 4 have also been declared as child-friendly wards. Similarly, six out of eight wards in Suvakalika Rural Municipality have been declared as child marriage prohibited wards.

The commitment letter issued by these wards states that child marriage under the age of 20 has been observed at zero per cent in these designated wards. 

In 2018, when Bale Bishwokarma, the coordinator for child rights governance and child protection at Save the Children, initiated efforts to eliminate child marriage, it was discovered that 92 per cent of the marriages in Ward No. 1 to 8 of Tilagufa Municipality were child marriages. 

However, by 2023, this rate had dropped to zero over the course of five years.

Dharma Kala Shahi, vice-chair of Suvakalika Rural Municipality, said that the rural municipality was committed to the eradication of child marriage and in reduction of social distortions and anomalies in the entire rural municipality. He said that in some places, they had introduced the policies to deprive both the parties involved in child marriages from the public services.