Ethiopia hunts for children forced to work, marry during pandemic
Addis Ababa, EthiopiaThomson Reuters Foundation Ethiopia has set up a network of committees to identify children forced into work or marriage during the coronavirus pandemic and to ensure schools are safe to re-open this week although campaigners fear it will hard to reverse the damage done. Yohannes Wogasso, school improvement program director at the Ministry […]
UN to Bangladesh: do more to end child marriage
Dhaka, BangladeshThomson Reuters Foundation Bangladesh must do more to tackle child marriage if it is to meet its own goal of eliminating the crime by 2041, according to a United Nations report released on Wednesday. “This human rights violation…[is] robbing children of their childhoods,” said Veera Mendonca, a spokeswoman for UNICEF. Children play on a […]
Lawmakers urged to ban child marriage in Britain
London, UKThomson Reuters Foundation Britain is sabotaging girls’ futures and condoning child sex abuse by failing to scrap an “anachronistic” law allowing child marriage, a lawmaker told parliament on Tuesday as she presented a bill to criminalise marriage under 18. Pauline Latham said retaining the current law, which allows marriage at 16 with parental consent, […]
Wow!: Girls tackle child marriage on the football pitch in India
ROLI SRIVASTAVA, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports…
More children wed, risk trafficking in Rohingya camps in pandemic – UN
Dhaka, BangladeshThomson Reuters Foundation Child marriage is on the rise in Bangladesh’s Rohingya refugee camps and the risk of human trafficking grows with every day the pandemic shuts youth services, according to a UN-led study that was released on Thursday. Bangladesh scaled back activities in the refugee camps in April and mainly focused on providing […]
Malawi traditional leader orders chiefs to dissolve lockdown child marriages
Blantyre, MalawiThomson Reuters Foundation A senior traditional leader in Malawi has ordered village chiefs to dissolve all the child marriages that took place during the country’s coronavirus lockdown so girls can return to classes when schools start reopening next month. Senior Chief Theresa Kachindamoto, a well-known campaigner against early marriage, said an increase in the […]
‘COVID generation’ risks child marriage, forced labour, ex-leaders warn
London, UKThomson Reuters Foundation Former world leaders called on Tuesday for urgent global action to stop coronavirus creating a “COVID generation” with millions of children deprived of education and forced into marriage and work. As lockdowns end, they urged governments to invest in catch-up programs to prevent irretrievable damage to children’s futures. An Afghan girl […]
Child marriage: India’s COVID-19 lockdown threatens efforts to stop spikes
ROLI SRIVASTAVA, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports on how coronavirus lockdowns are hindering efforts to stop child marriage…
Outrage as Somali parliament drafts law permitting child, forced marriages
Nairobi, Kenya/Garowe, SomaliaThomson Reuters Foundation Somalia’s parliament has sparked outrage by replacing long-awaited legislation to protect women and girls from violence with a new bill permitting child and forced marriage. The east African nation has high rates of child marriage and violence against women, including rape and female genital mutilation. The United Nations says 45 per […]
Kenya orders probe into rise in violence against women and girls during pandemic
Nairobi, KenyaThomson Reuters Foundation Kenya’s President on Monday ordered an investigation into rising reports of violence against women and girls – including rape, domestic violence, female genital mutilation and child marriage – as a result of coronavirus restrictions. Lockdowns to curb the spread of the new coronavirus have fuelled an upsurge in gender-based violence across […]