Lalitpur, August 24

Director General of the Department of Women and Children under the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare today expressed his commitment to end early child marriage.

Speaking at an information sharing programme on early child marriage organised by Women for Human Rights, Single Women Group in coordination with OXFAM, Women Lead and People In Network, Ram Prasad Bhattarai, DG, DoWC, said child marriage was a very serious issue and the government was committed to ending the practice.

“Although we have a national child development policy, it is not being implemented properly,” he said, adding, “The practice of child marriage can be brought to an end in coordination with NGOs and INGOs.”

He stated that DoWC had developed various programmes and appointed 484 new officers to fight the scourge of child marriage.

Sushila Paudel Dahal, section officer, Child Protection and Development Section, MoWCSW, said child marriage was a global problem.

Nepal Demographic and Health Survey 2011 states that 41 per cent girls get married before they reach 18 years of age, while 11 per cent boys gets married before they are 18 years old.

Dahal also stated that annually around 13,000 child marriages take place across the country. “Marrying before the age of 20 years is punishable by law, but the practice of child marriage continues,” she added.

WHR in coordination with the Department of Women and Children had conducted research on child widows a couple of years ago.