Faith Leaders Pledge Zero Tolerance to Child Marriages 

Secunderabad: Leaders from various religions in Telangana have pledged to do all in their might to prevent child marriages. “Around 15 million girl children are married off every year worldwide. This works out to a child marriage every two seconds,” said Montfort Brother Varghese Theckanath, president of Interfaith Forum for Social Change (IFSC) that joined other NGOs to organize a state level interfaith conclave at Secunderabad. The June 13 conclave focused on coordinated efforts of religious communities to prevent child marriage and promotion of secondary education. “It is time religious leaders left their religious spaces to play their transformative role in society as change makers to help humanity attain their fullness of life,” Brother Theckanath said while asserting that the leaders of faith communities must step in to change traditions and customs that come in the way of preventing child marriages.
The conclave was the joint effort of Mahita and Plan India along with the IFSC under the aegis of Girls Advocacy Alliance. Mahita is a team of individuals who formed a group in 1995 to initiate development interventions in the urban slums of Hyderabad. Plan India is a not for profit organisation striving to advance children’s rights and equality for girls.
(Taken from mattersindia.com)