Shahana, new saviour of teen girls
Shahana, with determination to stop child marriage and empower adolescent girls, made her first visit to the homes of Bangladesh at 6:15pm yesterday.
An animated cartoon character, she will use mass media to convey development messages relating to rights and issues of girl child, including adolescent health, child marriage, adolescent pregnancy, and ways to address gender-based discrimination and harassment.
The six-episode cartoon series, which will be aired every Monday evening on Channel-i, was premiered at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre.
The character was developed by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Bangladesh, with funds from the Embassy of Switzerland in Bangladesh.
Shahana, a 17-year-old girl, along with her friends Ranu, Tugli, Mukul, and her parents and siblings, takes different actions throughout the six episodes to prevent early marriage, pregnancy and raise awareness against such evil social practices.
Directed by Shihab Uddin, CEO of production house D CROWS, the cartoon captured the beauty and culture of rural Bangladesh.
Inaugurating the show, Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu said poverty, discrimination, gender-discrimination, superstitions and bigotry were the main reasons behind child marriage. These have to be removed from society, he added.
Citing the example of Bangladeshi women police's contribution in the UN peacekeeping missions, the input of female garment workers in the economy, Swiss Ambassador Christian Fotsch observed how the high prevalence of early marriage stood as a stark contrast to such achievements.
Argentina Matavel Piccin, UNFPA representative, pointed out the staggering number of young pregnancies in the country and the health risks involved.
According to a 2013 UNFPA report, Bangladesh was the only country outside the sub-Saharan Africa that had 40 percent of its women, aged between 20 and 24, who gave birth before 18. A discussion on child marriage was also held where Ayesha Khanom, president of Bangladesh Mahila Parishad (BMP), Sara Hossain, honorary executive director of Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (Blast) and Iori Kato, deputy representative, UNFPA, spoke.
In reply to a question from the audience, Sara Hossain said the concept of girl's consent in marriage had been overlooked everywhere, especially in a proposed law which required parents and court's permission to allow marriage below the legal age of 18 in exceptional cases.