THE Sarawak Women for Women Society is starting a campaign in schools here to educate school-going teenage girls to say "no" to guys who want to "marry" them.
This campaign against teenage marriages is themed "Sweet 16" and it is meant to deter teenage marriages that are at worrying levels in Sarawak, said Society Vice President Kim Tan.
"We are running this campaign starting in Kuching this month as part of our overall effort to institute legal reforms against teenage marriages which are child marriages.
"These so-called marriages among young teens in Sarawak are worrying.
"The Sweet 16 campaign is to educate the teenagers why they must not be coaxed into early marriages and the risks of teenage sexual relationships," she said in a press statement.
Kim said the Society is calling for laws to ban teen marriages of those below 18 as these are child marriages involving vulnerable girls.
These legal reforms will take time but the Society wants to start awareness education soonest among the schoolgirls, she said.
On Sept 27, it was reported that how the "marriage" of very young girls in Sarawak is being carried out is an issue of deep concern to the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam).
The rights of these young girls are often neglected when they are subjected to traditional methods of marriage when they are not mature enough, said Sarawak Suhakam Commissioner Dr Chew Chee Ming.
A survey by Unimas revealed that 58.7 per cent of teenage pregnant girls had dropped out of schools, then got involved in sexual relationships and then got pregnant.
It was also found that some 60.1 per cent of girls got pregnant before the age of marriage (legal age 18).
The survey also showed that in 2023, there were reported cases of 2,026 teen girls who got pregnant in Sarawak. - October 16, 2024
