NCLW launches its new Campaign to protect girls from early marriage

On the occasion of International Women’s Day, the NCLW launched yesterday, and in collaboration with The Institute for Women Studies in the Arab World - Lebanese American University, the National Campaign to protect girls from early marriage.  The event was held at the LAU Campus in Beirut.

The Secretary of the NCLW, Lawyer Fady Karam, noted in his keynote address that the failure of the state in protecting young girls is a violation to the Constitution and to the International Conventions that Lebanon has signed.  Karam said that underage girls are victims of customs and traditions that are not related to tradition and that the Lebanese legislators must ban early marriage or at least impose restrictions to ensure that take into consideration the health, social and psychological well being of underage girls and that ensure that they fully consent to early marriage.  Karam highlighted the complementarities of roles between civil and religious authorities on this matter.

Kafa’s Director, Zoya Ruhana referred to the International Anti-Trafficking Conference which was held last month in Vienna and which highlighted the death of 1 million girl child globally every year as a result of early marriage and rape.  She also pointed out to the numerous cases highlighted recently by the local media on early marriage but lamented that this coverage does not shed light on the key legal issues and that is that the laws in Lebanon legitimize early marriage. For her part, Arlett Tabet, Public Appeal Attorney and Judge Arlette Tabet, talked about the complexities in protecting underage girls in view of the confessional system in Lebanon and where each sect has set its won minimum age of marriage within a framework where there is no control on this matter from the state.

Ms. Randa Berri, NCLW Vice president, spoke on behalf of the NCLW president, First Lady Wafa Suleiman, about the realities of underage marriage in Lebanon and its devastating social impact and the fact that it is quite prevalent amongst the poor.  She noted that the Campaign must adopt three things, namely ensuring that the state adopts a minimum age of marriage law to protect young girls from all kind of violence, in addition to respect International Conventions especially the Child’s Rights Convention.  Berri went on to provoke women activists by rejecting the incrimination of marital rape on the ground that it is very difficult to prove such rape acts!.  
Source: Al-Mustaqbal, Al-Nahar 5 March 2014