Emdadur Rahman Chowdhury Zia, Sylhet

A district level consultation meeting on Community Engagement Activities on VAC & ECM was held in Sylhet under the project titled 'Awareness Promotion Activities for the Development of Children, Adolescents and Women' organized by the Information Office.

Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Sher Mahbub Murad was present as the chief guest.

At the meeting held on Thursday , the speakers discussed in detail the causes, prevention and elimination of child marriage and violence against women and children.

Deputy Director of Local Government Suborna Sarkar, Additional Deputy Commissioner (Education and ICT) Md. Nurer Zaman Chowdhury were present as resource persons at the consultation meeting held in the conference room of the Deputy Commissioner with the support of UNICEF.

Deputy Director of District Information Office Md. Salah Uddin presented the keynote address at the event. In his keynote speech, he highlighted the horrific picture of child marriage, child labor, and violence against women and children in destroying the future opportunities and potential of women and children.

Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Sher Mahbub Murad said that the government has formed committees across the country to prevent child marriage. Now, overall coordination between government and private initiatives is essential to prevent child marriage and violence against women and children. He also said that everyone's work should be clearly understood in the sustainable development goals and national action plans in this regard. Therefore, it is necessary to develop such a system so that such incidents cannot happen in any way.

Speakers at the event said that in most cases, child labor and child marriage occur with the consent of the guardian, due to which many children drop out of school, and other fundamental rights including education are violated. Without financial solvency, the process of resolving the issue becomes more complicated. For this, everyone is urged to work from their respective positions.

It was recommended through open discussion at the consultation meeting that a massive campaign should be launched to create social awareness against child marriage and child labor.

As these issues are closely related to education, the meeting emphasized the importance of increasing the literacy rate. If necessary, the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs has asked people to contact the toll-free national helpline 109 and the national emergency service 999, which provide 24-hour services to prevent child marriage and violence against women and children.