Child marriage

During wedding ceremonies, the religious sermon often conveys messages about creating a happy and long-lasting union. But in eastern Indonesia, female cleric Sarifa Suhra uses her platform for a different purpose: to advocate against child marriage. Sarifa began urging newlywed couples not to marry their future children young after she received a…, Countering Patriarchal Interpretations, Dr. Sarifa gives a sermon to women in her community at a mosque in Bone district. Dr. Sarifa gives a sermon to women in her community at a mosque in Bone district. While legal breakthroughs are necessary, Safira believes that as a cleric, she can play a key role in countering entrenched patriarchal tradition and religious interpretation by…, Stepping Up Religious Efforts, Parents play a board game designed to raise awareness on child marriage. Parents play a board game designed to raise awareness on child marriage. Sarifa is grateful that clerics like her have been given the space to preach against child marriage. Their efforts together with the government have intensified over the past few years, supported by…

BONE, Indonesia - In Panyili Village, Fitri*, 17, and her parents returned from North Kalimantan where they had been living until recently. The three of them walked inside a vacant old house that once belonged to Fitri’s grandmother. The house looked dilapidated, with the roof and its frame exposed. In the living room, four stuffed bears inside…

Mara, at fifteen years old, appears no different than many teenage girls in Bone: soft-spoken, a little shy, used to weighing her words and conduct in front of strangers. Sitting in the living room of her modest roadside home in the sub-district of Tokaseng, north of Bone, she is dressed in a hijab with a geometric motif that accentuates her…

Based on UNICEF data, one out of four children in Indonesia never received information about menstruation before they had their first menstruation. Many girls are not ready when they have their first period. As a result they are amazed, confused, sad, crying and afraid. Most of adolescent girls trust to their parents, especially their mother, as…

In the past 10 years, the practice of child marriage in Indonesia has decreased by 3.5 percentage points. However, this is still relatively slow and a systemic and integrated effort is needed to achieve the target of 8.74 percent in 2024 and to 6.94 percent in 2030. The Report of Child Marriage Prevention compiled by BPS together with technical…

This is a story a young friend told me. She was 14 when she was married off. Nobody asked her if she wanted to. Everything happened too fast. There was a big party, and a lot of people came. It was the first time she met her husband, who was a lot older than her. It was also the first time she had to take off her clothes in front of a man and let…

Fatma*, 16, was riding her motorbike home after school one afternoon. There were bumps here and there along the main road in her small village in Bone, but Fatma was used to them. Her white and blue uniform fluttered in the wind behind her. She was happy and content. Once she arrived, Fatma parked the motorbike and walked inside, thinking that it…, Bone: the region with the highest child marriage rate in Indonesia, In Bone, the second largest district in South Sulawesi, child marriage is even more prevalent compared to other regions in Indonesia. Deep-rooted traditions and close relationships between families, especially among parents, contributed to the high number. “There is pressure from parents,” said Aminuddin, a part-time counselling teacher at Fatma’s…, Fatma ‘negotiates’ with her parents, Fatma’s response came as a surprise to her mother, Sahari, who then relented. “We’re happy with the proposal,” she said. “But Fatma is the one who will be going through the marriage. And she didn’t want it. So, we turned it down.” Fatma was elated, but she quickly realized that there are many girls that are not as lucky. To Fatma, that moment…, The challenges behind child marriage, Indonesia’s Marriage Act used to allow girls to marry, with parental permission, starting from 16 years old but a recent amendment in September 2019 raised that minimum age to 19 years old – the same age as boys. UNICEF welcomes this change. However, in practice, parents can apply for “dispensation” to a court that will issue a legal permission…, Empowering girls, Fatma’s courage to take control over her future shows that girls can ‘choose to stand for themselves’. Nevertheless, there are still many girls who find themselves in the same situation and are unable to break away from child marriage practice. Some of them are afraid they might hurt their parents, while some struggle to voice their opinions. “…, How do we change this situation?, Life Skills Education is a UNICEF-supported initiative that aims to create change. It is also part of BERANI, a program where UNICEF collaborates with UNFPA, the Canadian Government, and the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas). Implemented from May 2019 and concluded at the end of 2020, BERANI taught girls and boys about menstrual…, Challenges in Scaling-Up Life-Skills Education, Today, the schools that have adopted Life-Skills Education program need more capacity, expand their content, and enlarge their network. Recent data show that the COVID-19 pandemic has slowed down, even stopped albeit temporarily, the program’s activities in Bone because of mobility restrictions and social distancing policies. Such disruption can…, How You Can Help, Thanks to the generous contributions of individual donors, and the collaboration with teachers, partners, and other actors who share the same concern towards Indonesia’s future, UNICEF has been able to help Fatma and other girls to say no to child marriage through BERANI and other programs. However, the road towards equality is long and winding.…

Jakarta, September 18, 2019 – UNICEF welcomes the recent amendment of Indonesia’s Marriage Act (1974) which has raised the age that girls can be married with parental permission from 16 to 19 years to be in line with the age for boys, which is also 19. The age of marriage for both women and men without parental permission is 21.  “This is a major…