Children of Kalikot vow to stop child marriage

By Prem Raj Simkhada,Kalikot, Aug. 31: Over 200 children have vowed neither to marry nor let others marry before the legal age in Tilagufa Municipality, Kalikot.

On Sunday, 263 children made the pledge against child marriage and promised to campaign against it in the presence of Tilagufa Mayor Shankar Prasad Upadhyaya, Deputy Mayor Mahendra Bahadur Shahi and other stakeholders. 

Bhupendra Bahadur Shahi, one of the children who made the promise, said that support from the local government was essential to make the campaign successful.

"We are ready to stop underage marriages as soon as we receive information. 

But if the government and elected representatives do not stand with us, or support us in case of legal troubles, we will be unsafe and ignored," Bhupendra worried. 

Shanti Sarki of Tilagufa–5 suggested authorities conduct awareness programmes to inform people that child marriage is a crime. She also said that parents tended to reprimand them if they advocated against underage marriages.

The Karnali Integrated Rural Development and Research Centre (KIRDARC), with support from Save the Children, has been running the Sahayatra Project against child marriage for the past five years. Sarita Khatri, a child protection officer with the project, expressed happiness that child marriage had decreased from 95 per cent in the past to 20 per cent now. 

However, despite the decline, Khatri said that they were not completely out of the woods. "Minor marriages could still be happening away from the public eye. That is why we gathered children from all over the municipality and launched this campaign," she said.

Upadhyaya said that he would fully support the campaign.