Rayons de soleil champions sensitization against forced marriage

Communities in Africa recently celebrated the 52nd day of African women under the theme: "the Role of women and girls in education, science and technology to an African renaissance."

It was an opportunity to bring the issue of the education of the girl of the north facing the practices of early and forced marriages which violate the rights of girls and stands as an obstacle to their development. According to a study by the network citizen dynamics in 2009, the region of northern recorded 24% of early and forced marriages while Maroua follows with 37.57%, and Kousseri 23,56%.

Because of these practices, thousands of girls are deprived of their childhood, with disastrous consequences for their health. These girls are deprived of schooling, which greatly reduces their dreams. The feminization of poverty in the region is a result of such practices.

"On a more global level, this phenomenon is a real brake to the achievement of the objectives of the Millennium for development goal on gender equality and development in the region," noted Fidèle Djebba, President of association Rayons de soleil which works on the promotion of the rights of women and the girl child.

In the light of this finding, the need of awareness is therefore urgent. This sensitises the heads of family, traditional leaders, religious elites and politicians against the practice of forced marriage on girls of less than 18 years and encourage their education at the same time.

In this regard, a film has been chosen by the association Rayons de soleil as a mode of communication in the campaign against early and forced marriages in the Diamaré. Entitled in fulfulde local language « Ho’ou babal am », which means:"Take my place" has been in the projection since last month towns and villages in the region of the far north with the essential objective of reducing the percentage of girls who do not school.

The 25 min film tells a story with central character Hawa, who was forced by his dad to go into marriage at the age of 13 while on her part, she dreamt of becoming an engineer. 20 years later, the classmate of central character who had become a doctor saved the father of Hawa from a serious illness.

In his confession before her daughter, Hawa’s father acknowledged that he has done wrong and made a commitment to help the girls in her village to go to school. The campaign which ends August 30, 2014 shall be followed by educational lectures in Maroua. For the President, "it's a way for its association to contribute to respect for the rights and dignity of girls", stressed Fidèle Djebba.