Child Marriage- Awareness Session in Al Sweida

Nour Foundation for Relief and Development- The Support Project (Da’am)

Nour Foundation for Relief and Development arranged an awareness raising session with community members on Child Marriages on July 7th, 2018 at Nour Center for Women in Al Sweida.

The main objective of the session was to raise awareness regarding this issue among the community in addition to defining its harmful health and social consequences.

Amana Molaeb, Case Manager and facilitator of the session, started by providing an overview of child marriage across the globe and spoke about basic facts, provided statistics and shared real life examples. Consequences of Child Marriage, negative impacts and reasons why it should be abolished were also discussed.

Amana started, “Forcing young girls to marry is a violation of their human rights, is a form of child abuse, and is tantamount to murder. It is clear that child marriage means the end to a girl’s formal education. She is now separated from her family and friends and transferred to her husband. In an instant, she is expected to become a woman who keeps and raises a family, rather than play and study like the child she is. Young girls who are married off are more likely to have children while still physically and emotionally immature. They are psychologically unprepared and unequipped to become mothers, which means they tend to have more problems during pregnancy and childbirth.”

She added, ” Early marriage of daughters also is viewed as a means of preserving a family’s honor; strengthening economic, social or political ties among different families and communities.”

A woman attending the session proclaimed, ” I was forced to drop out of school following my marriage.This made me have low self-esteem and self-confidence around my husband and kids.”

At the end of the session, the Case Manager emphasized  the importance of social and psychological support for victims of early marriage. She added that consultation and support centers are absolute necessities to make positive changes in their lives.

It is worth mentioning that under the slogan ” Strong Woman, Strong Community”, Nour Center for Women in Al Sweida, which is funded by the UNFPA, holds awareness sessions on real-life topics.