INDIA / CHILD MARRIAGE

In India, where child marriage is illegal, many rural communities face enormous social and economic pressure to defy the law. UNICEF

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:01:55
• Production Date: 30 April 2010
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S FUND - UNICEF
• Subject Topical: SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT; WOMEN'S RIGHTS; HUMAN RIGHTS; CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT
• Geographic Subject: INDIA
• MAMS Id: U100430h

Description

STORY: INDIA / CHILD MARRIAGE
TRT: 1.57
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / MARWARI / NATS

DATELINE: 6-12 OCTOBER 2009, RAJASTHAN, INDIA,

Shotlist

1. Various shots, Bablu tending a fire in her house
2. SOUNDBITE (Marwari) Bablu:
“I was told to get married. I did not want to get married. I thought my life would be completely ruined.”
3. Various shots, Rajasthan
4. Various shots, community health meeting
5. Various shots, Durga at community health meeting
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Daniele Smadja, Representative, European Commission to India:
“We show to Indian authorities that when discussing these issues we are not here to lecture, but to support in finding solutions to these problems.”
7. Various shots, community health meeting
8. Various shots, Bablu at home with her family
9. SOUNDBITE (Marwari) Bablu:
“I will not let any young girls married. I will take legal action. I want to become somebody.”
10. Various shots, Durga at community health meeting

Storyline

Bablu was thirteen years old when villagers in her community put pressure on her parents to find her a husband.

SOUNDBITE (Marwari) Bablu:
“I was told to get married. I did not want to get married. I thought my life would be completely ruined.”

Child marriage is illegal in India but in poor regions such as Rajasthan there is enormous social and economic pressure to defy the law.

Bablu’s had support from her aunt Durga who is a village health care worker.

UNICEF and the European commission work together to help families who decide not to marry their daughters young and its women like Durga who are at the heart of the programme.

SOUNDBITE (English) Daniele Smadja, Representative, European Commission to India:
“We show to Indian authorities that when discussing these issues we are not here to lecture, but to support in finding solutions to these problems.”

Health care workers hold community meetings, where villagers are encouraged to discuss issues such as domestic violence, to find ways they can all agree on to end harmful social practices.

It was through meetings like these that Bablu’s father became convinced that it was in his family’s best interest to let her continue her studies.

Bablu, who says she would have killed herself if she had been forced to marry, is now determined to stay in school and to save others from the fate she avoided. And after seeing her example five girls in nearby villages have stopped their own marriages.

SOUNDBITE (Marwari) Bablu:
“I will not let any young girls married. I will take legal action. I want to become somebody.”

Although change can be slow at first, the work of UNICEF and the European Commission is helping communities to realize that everyone benefits when girls stay in school and delay marriage.