Campaign to End Child Marriages Launched in Belize City

A comprehensive campaign to end child marriages was launched this morning at the Ramada Hotel in Belize City. Currently, children are allowed by the system to be married with the condition that they have the consent of their parents.  The campaign is the start of legislative changes that will see the government block persons under 18 from getting married. Cultural challenges have been met during the consultation process to implement the new law as in many cultures marrying at a young age has been met with a sense of normalcy. Speaking on the basis of the campaign was Minister of Human Development, Dolores Balderamos Garcia, who noted that the updates in laws like this are being done in phases.

Dolores Balderamos Garcia, Minister of Human Development, Indigenous People’s Affairs, Families and Children: “The  campaign today in a nutshell is to sensitize all of our communities and to seek the support to pass the legislation that we will not permit marriages under the age of 18. And ending child marriage, ladies, sends the kind of message that we are protecting our young people and it sends the message of our commitment to that. In other words, the younger you marry the more likely you are to maybe have a bad pregnancy, the more likely you are to maybe stay out of school, stay out of a job, because the earlier you marry especially it affects young girls, the earlier you marry you’re taking away your chances of being in school and graduating and having a good career, having a good background, and then having a good career. Now addressing the issue that maybe in certain communities the early marriage may be accepted for example in the Maya communities of the south but of course that is not the only place that the early unions happen but in terms of the tradition and the culture early unions have been permitted but as I said in my remarks not because early unions are permitted in certain traditional communities does that mean that it is a good thing because how can a 12 year old, how can a 13 or a 14 year old really have a child and bring up that child in a proper way? “

This initiative addresses a critical issue, Belize has the second-highest rate of child marriages in the Caribbean, with 30% of Belizean women entering marriage unions before the age of 18. The practice often leads to early school withdrawal, increased instances of domestic violence and perpetuating a cycle of poverty and limiting of young girls. Shakira Sutherland, Executive Director of the NCFC, spoke with Love News about the strategic actions taken to combat the root causes of child marriage.

Shakira Sutherland, Executive Director, NCFC: “We’re having the consultation session to end child marriage in Belize and so this is a session that as been stemmed form our campaign. So we have a campaign that came from the National Children’s Parliament last year. So the bill from the children was that they wanted to end child marriage and so we at NCFC we advocate for children so that their voices can be heard and so after that bill was shared last year for parliament NCFC took it upon ourselves to share with our minister Honorable Dolores Balderamos Garcia to assist us in championing our children’s voices and to take it up to Cabinet because at the end of the day we don’t want to allow the children to feel as if though their voice are heard but no action after that. So since this issue stemmed from our children of this country it is even more passionate towards us so that we can so that we can assist and help them to ensure that their voices are hard and we as leaders and stakeholders of our country we’re taking actions to support them.”

Alyssa Bell, Directors of Ceremony: “Doing that and arguing for that bill made me realize what children are going through and how this affects them and how it deprives them from their basic human rights like education and safeguarding their rights.”

Asher Torres, Directors of Ceremony: “It’s really an insight to learn different views of people in your own age range, of people mentoring you, solidifying what you have in your ideas and coming out and just speaking about a voice for our youth.”

Alyssa Bell, Directors of Ceremony: “Well a big thing that I think every child should do is use their voices. A lot of the time people are scared to use their voices because of threats or nervousness, anxiety and pressure from their peers and some people are gifted with the strength and courage to use their voices and using your voice to stand up for those who don’t have a voice or who are scared to have a voice is a big thing and I really believe that using your voice is what we could do now.”

The initiative represents a significant step forward in the fight against child marriage in Belize, signaling a commitment to protecting the rights and futures of its young citizens.