In collaboration with Anti-Slavery International, Amnesty International hosted this special event highlighting forced marriage and labour around the world. This event was hosted to mark the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery. I was very intrigued to attend this event because it had some ties with my work with WILPF and was in fact incredibly insightful. Members of the VAW Group and Y-WILPF, Ella Page, Deborah Michelleti also attended.The seminar highlighted the controversial fineline between exploitation of human rights and dignity to old customs and tradition. When is it ok for people to practice their custom and when should an outsider intervene in what looks like gross misconduct of human rights? Here is a summary of what the panelists highlighted in their speech, along with my action points as part of active learning.
Maggie Black (Independent Writer and Consultant):
- Highlighted the India ritual of poor women being forcefully married to a deity, which is enriched within their culture and custom
- With the absence of a real husband, these women are treated as sexual property for anyone who chooses to demand their services. They are not prostitutes (no pay) but it is within their role to offer such services to men... which is thus passed onto their children
- None of this is legal but law and tradition is treated differently in India, and such customs practiced in poorer areas
- It is male domination that prolongs such customs and parents lack the education to see that these initiation processes for their daughter does them nothing but harm
- However, the sense of 'goddess' in their life is very strong despite how these initiated daughters are treated
- There is no help from the police, however women have now been empowered with Maggie's help campaign against the goddess initiation and custom, and demand women's rights
Naana Otoo-Oyortey (Executive Director of FORWARD)
- Naana stressed the need to put child marriage onto UK's campaign agenda with plenty of rich examples and consequences felt by these children
- In parts of Africa, marriage is seen as an "opportunity". Children are forced to marry when still pre-pubescent and their bodies put through the ordeal of pregnancy and childbirth
- The norm is deeply embedded within some ethnic communities and do not understand that this custom is simply harming the child and their well-being, not forgetting taking away their childhood and innocence
- Child widows suffer the most, having to bring up a large number of her children alone, having her husbands physical possessions snatched from her and passed onto another man like cattle
- Child marriage is a neglected global development concern, whereas FGM is widely and globally discussed
- Clearly, poverty is linked and there is heavy gender discrimination issues (as men in that part of the world say that if a young girl looks good and has breasts, she should be taken!!!)
- Note that just because a country as a legal minimum age at which someone can marry doesn't mean that this age is monitored or enforced. These children may be forced to marry as soon as they are born
Kaviri Sharma (Focus on forced marriages in British South East Asian communities)
- The things Kaviri was saying in regards to South East Asian customs I understood and was aware of clearly because I've seen it happen to members of my extended family
- Forced marriages, she said, leads to domestic violence especially if the man was forced into the marriage without his verbal agreement
- Victims of forced marriage are largely women from 17-21 years of age
- Parents don't understand the difference between consent and what is forced, simply thinking that they are doing the best for their child
After the keynotes, we were presented a short video "Two Little Girls" which is an ad to highlighting Eastern Europeans young women who are potential victims of human sex trafficking. It is all in cartoon animation which made the advert that much more appealing to watch and easy to understand, and was a fantastic campaign endorsement.
Action points
- Watching "Two Little Girls" gave me an insight to how we can use documentaries made by WorldWrite. Greater outreach is necessary.
- There are lots of root causes to why these customs appeared and became the norm however with education, we can help these women feel empowered and stand against the inhumane treatment they receive - this can be done with the help of working groups.
- Poverty, I feel, is the major causes to most these decisions that parents take upon their children. What can business' do to help create sustainable jobs for women? Also, bring education to children so that they learn to grow strong and understand that this is not what life is.
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