Known for their public campaigns of human rights, in particular, women’s rights and the rights of children, The Body Shop Malaysia together with Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO), Sisters In Islam (SIS) and the Association Women of Lawyers (AWL) organised a campaign, “When I Was 11”, to end child marriage here in Malaysia. To mark the launch of the campaign, The Body Shop, WAO, SIS, AWL and with the support of Sunway Pyramid and Sunway Resort Hotel & Spa conducted the ‘Walk the Talk to End Child Marriage’ to petition for the campaign.
The aim of the campaign and walk is to urge the government to raise the minimum age of marriage to 18 years, regardless of gender, faith and ethnicity. Many Malaysians are hoping that the law will be revised as it was mainly made a promise from Commitment 4.2 of the Pakatan Harapan Manifesto. Parents, students and members of the public turned up for the walk, which took place on the 18th of August 2018 at Bandar Sunwa,y in support to end child marriage.
Explaining how we as a nation can help, Datin Mina Cheah-Foong, Managing Director of The Body Shop Malaysia shared “in the long-term, beyond legal reform, we know that to end child marriage, we need to change public perception, to achieve gender sensitisation, to institute sex education, and to empower our youth, both boys and girls, to speak out for their rights.”
Meera Samanther, Vice President of Women’s Aid Organisation, then shared shocking statistics where 52 per cent non-Muslim applications and 48 per cent Muslim applications for child marriages were filed just in the year of 2017. Meera added as well that “child marriage is not just a Muslim issue; it is a Malaysian issue. It’s a community issue.” We strongly believe in her statement and as the older generation, we should try our very best to protect our children’s rights and freedom.
The “When I Was 11” campaign successfully collected almost 20,000 signatures since it started on the 1st of August 2018 and hopes more will be collected to end child marriage and protect the childhood of all children in Malaysia. The campaign will go on until 30th of September 2018 before the petitions are handed over to the Minister of Women and Family Development, Minister of Religion and Minister of Law. Do show your love and support for the children of Malaysia and our future leaders by signing the petition at all The Body Shop stores and online at www.thebodyshop.com.my/wheniwas11.
The post MALAYSIANS UNITE TO END CHILD MARRIAGE appeared first on Her Inspirasi.
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