How violence is ruining girl education

Ref:Monday, 22 October 2012 09:29: The citizen

Deputy Gender minister Ummy Mwalimu speaks during the commemoration of the International Day of Girl Child in Dar es Salaam last week. PHOTO | MICHAEL JAMSON By Frank Aman, The Citizen Correspondent Dar es Salaam. Violence against girls in and out of school is one of the major hindrances to access and quality education in Tanzania and other developing countries.Most schools and communities fail to protect the basic rights and dignity of girls. While girls and boys have the same entitlement to human rights, discrimination against girls and women is one of the main underlying causes of child poverty. According to the United Nations Children's Fund Violence Against Children (UNICEF VAC) 2009 report, three out of 10 girls have experienced gender-based violence and 49 per cent of sexual violence occurs at home. While 23 per cent of sexual violence occurs when travelling to and from school, and 15.1 per cent of sexual violence occurs in school. Globally, more than one in three young women aged 20-24 years were first married before they reached the age of 18. One third of them entered into marriage before they turned 15. Child marriage results in early and unwanted pregnancies, posing life-threatening risks for girls. In developing countries, 90 per cent of births among adolescents aged 15-19 occur among married girls, and pregnancy-related complications are the leading cause of death for girls in this age group. Girls with low levels of schooling are more likely to be married early, and child marriage has been shown to virtually end a girl’s education. Conversely, girls with secondary school education are up to six times less likely to marry as children, making education one of the best strategies for protecting girls and combating child marriages. Preventing child marriage will protect girls’ rights and help reduce their risks of violence, early pregnancies, HIV infection, and maternal death and disability, including obstetric fistula. When girls are able to stay in school and avoid being married early, they can build a foundation for a better life for themselves and their families and participate in the progress of their nations.  Governments in partnership with civil society actors and the international community are called upon to take urgent action to end the harmful practice of child marriages. This can be done by enacting and enforcing appropriate legislation to increase the minimum age of marriage for girls to 18 and raise public awareness about child marriage as a violation of girls’ human rights. Also they can improve access to good quality primary and secondary education to ensure that gender gaps in education are eliminated and mobilise girls, boys, parents, leaders, and champions to change harmful social norms as well as promote girls’ rights and create opportunities for them.   The International Day of the Girl Child with the theme: “My Life, My Right, End Child Marriage” focuses attention on the need to address the challenges girls face and to promote girls’ empowerment and the fulfillment of their human rights. For the inaugural day, UN agencies have come together to focus on child marriage, which is a fundamental human rights violation and impacts all aspects of a girl’s life.Plan as an international organisation focusing on child rights is celebrating the first-ever United Nation declared “International Day of a Girl Child” which will start to be celebrated globally from October 11, this year. During cerebrations to mark the day, Plan International has also launched a global campaign dubbed ‘Because I am a Girl Campaign’ (BIAAG) that will work to increase skills, knowledge and awareness of a girl’s vulnerability to gender-based violence within the family, school and community. The campaign aims to provide girls with skills and confidence to actively participate in relevant structures and fora to influence issues concerning their own development and protection at community, district and national levels. Speaking with reporters to announce the launch of the campaign, Plan International Tanzania programme support (operations) manager Paul Lusato said the campaign aims to fight gender inequality, promote girls’ rights and lift millions of girls out of poverty.  “Because I am a girl campaign aims to create an environment free of gender-based violence for girls both in and out of school,” said Mr Lusato. Meanwhile, the deputy minister for Community Development, Gender and Children, Ms Ummy Mwalimu has said that violence against girls in and out of schools had been increased compared to previous years. Ms Mwalimu was speaking at the commemoration of the inauguration of the Plan International global campaign which would run up to June 2016 where about four million girls worldwide and about 300,000 Tanzanian girls  would benefit from the initiative.  “Girls experience violence in the form of rape, sexual harassment, physical and psychological intimidation, teasing and threats as well as corporal punishment. Most schools and communities have failed to protect the basic rights and dignity of girls,” said Ms Mwalimu. She said that civil society organisations dealing with children issues would create a national dialogue that would discuss the rights of girls duirng whic children will have the opportunity to speak about challenges they face when pushing policy-makers and governments to look for alternatives to resolving their problems. For his part, Plan International Tanzania Country director David Muthungu said the aim of the campaign was to fight against gender inequality, promote girls’ rights and alleviate poverty among millions of girls. “Among other things, the campaign will impart skills, knowledge and awareness of girls’ vulnerabilities to gender-based violence,” said Mr Muthungu. He said statistics showed that 10 million girls globally are forced into marriage annually. In developing countries, one out of three girls is married before the age of 18 years. “ According to a 2010 UN report  the number of girls who interrupt studies because of pregnancy has reached 8,000 per year,” he said.