Ethiopian Review

Girls visit Congress and deliver over 11,000 letters to Senators urging passage of “Preventing Child Marriage Act”.

posted:  Wednesday, July 29, 2010

Two weeks ago, 40 youth descended upon Capitol Hill to urge lawmakers to pass “The International Protecting Girls by Preventing Child Marriage Act”.  The tradition of marrying of a young girl to a man is one that is still prevalent in some societies of the world. While we should respect cultural norms that we do not understand or practice in our general lives, we should not have to respect or preserve any norm that advocates for the abuse of children.  Anytime a young girl is forced into marriage while barely a teenager, it is moral wrong that all of humanity should deplore.

According to some estimates, there are over 60 million girls worldwide who are child brides.  Without serious action to end this heinous “tradition”, that number is slated to rise to 100 million in the coming decade.  Helina, a student at Cardozo Senior High School in Washington , D.C. , is one of the leaders of the youth delegation. She was born in Ethiopia where half of all girls are married by age 14 in the northern Amhara region. “Child marriage is terrible,” says Helina. “Kids should be able to stay in school and get an education, and not be forced into marriage. We need to do something about it. We have to make sure people are aware of this situation.”

Saba Fassil, an active Ethiopian in the DC area, was one of the local organizers of the event.  “I had the privilege to organize this advocacy event”, said Saba.  “I was very pleased with the involvement of the Ethiopian youth, since child marriage is a major practice in many parts of Ethiopia.”  There was a large turnout from the Ethiopian community as 20 Ethiopian students from the Ethiopian Community Center also showed up to take part in this event.

These young global citizens who visited lawmakers delivered over 11,000 signed letters from Plan USA supporters urging their Senators to make sure that…Continued…

To read the rest of this article, go to:  http://browncondor.com/events/2010/07/28/married-too-young/ or click on the image below…

Saba Fassil, local organizer