Gift for girls during IDG: A law that will prohibit child marriage
By PLCPD Foundation, Inc.
Around 200 #GirlDefenders gathered in an online event in 11 October to celebrate the International Day of the Girl and call on the President to sign into law the bill prohibiting child marriage.11 October – In commemoration of the International Day of the girl, around 200 #GirlDefenders all over the Philippines gathered in an online solidarity event to call on the President to leave a lasting legacy and enact a law prohibiting child marriage as gift for girls and children. “We declare the IDG as the “Day of the #GirlDefenders” and today,
we call on the President to sign the law that will provide equal protection for all girls and children by prohibiting child marriage. Let this be your legacy and gift for girls during the IDG,” said Farhana Ganoy, advocate from Maguindanao Alliance of Youth Advocates based in Maguindanao.
“Regional and local efforts and advocacy work to end child marriage show the need for holistic programs especially on the ground to help communities veer away from this harmful practice, and the proposed law prohibiting child marriage is a big step towards institutionalizing a policy that will protect women and girls’ right to be free from VAWG,” said Lot Felizco, Country Director of Oxfam.
During the event, partners PLCPD, Oxfam, AMWA, UnyPhil-Women, government agencies DSWD, DepEd, PCW, CHR, POPCOM, youth organizations MAYA and Linding, and CSO allies, also shared lessons from milestones and discussed sustainability efforts for the advocacy to end child marriage.
Since 2017, #GirlDefenders have been mounting calls to prohibit child marriage and during its annual IDG celebrations, several milestones have been reached – filing of first bill prohibiting child marriage during IDG 2018 through authors Deputy Speaker Bernadette Herrera and Representative Edcel Lagman, approval on Third and Final Reading of prohibition of child marriage bill at the Senate in 2020 through Senator Risa Hontiveros, approval on Third and Final Reading at the House of Representatives during and ratification by both the House of Representatives and the Senate a month before the IDG. Mr. Rom Dongeto, PLCPD Executive Director and lead of the #GirlDefenders alliance thanked the authors for “their commitment and political will to end child marriage by championing and ushering the passage of the bill prohibiting this practice, fully aware of the sensitive nature of the proposed policy which may antagonize conservative groups.”
A law prohibiting child marriage will address its prevalence in the Philippines, where one in six Filipino girls get married before reaching the age of 18. Currently, the Philippines ranks 10th worldwide in terms of absolute number of child marriages and unions. Authors of the bill are united in the call for the President to urgently enact the bill prohibiting child marriage into law. Deputy Speaker Bernadette Herrera said that “no race, religion or age should be exempted from the protection of the law and that we owe it to our children to ensure that laws are created to defend their rights.” “Clearly, the bill is a huge win for women and girls’ rights and its enactment will ensure their protection form the ill effects of child marriage,” said Rep. Malou Acosta-Alba. Rep. Edcel Lagman said that “Congress heeded the call to prohibit and impose strict penalties on child marriage and went a step further by expanding the concept of child marriage to include cohabitation between adult men girls.” Senator Risa Hontiveros amplified the call for the President to sign the bill prohibiting child marriage into law and called on all stakeholders “to work even more collaboratively to ensure that programs and services will be crafted to help end child marriage.”
#GirlDefenders unite behind the enactment of a bill prohibiting child marriage
The #GirlDefenders alliance is led by the Philippine Legislators’ Committee on Population and Development and is composed of sectors from national government agencies, legislators from Congress, civil society organizations and children and youth organizations. The alliance was specifically organized to support the campaign for the enactment of the bill, recognizing that child marriage is one of the gravest forms of violence against women and girls. Since the 17th Congress, the alliance has organized multiple campaigns and despite the pandemic, was able to rally support for the passage of the bill prohibiting child marriage at the Senate and House of Representatives.
The alliance facilitated consultations with key affected populations, mounted public campaign events, held intergenerational and multisectoral dialogues among legislators, government agencies and civil society organizations with the aim of advocating for policy reforms that will help end child marriage. In BARMM, youth organizations Maguindanao Alliance of Youth Advocates, Linding ko Kalombayan, UnyPhil-Women, Al-Mujadillah Women’s Association, Oxfam worked hand in hand for the campaign to end child marriage.
Comments