Child marriage is a human rights violation, which threatens girls’ lives and health, and limits their future prospects.
To raise awareness about this harmful practice, UNFPA Georgia Country Office has been conducting meetings with adolescent girls and boys at various public schools in Georgian regions in cooperation with the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia and its Public Security Management Center “112".
On March 18, meetings were held on prevention of child marriage with the students of public schools in Daba Tamarisi and Tetritskaro, in Kvemo Kartli region.
“Unfortunately, I have heard about the cases of child marriage, but I did not know what to do to prevent them back then. Now I have information about the updated 112 application and its interesting functionalities. Early marriage is wrong both for girls and boys, because it may have negative consequences on their mental health and cause psychologic and physical traumas. Moreover, a person should first receive education and experience, get economically strong and settle down afterwards”, Salome Abzhandadze, 16, Daba Tamarisi public school.
“Early marriage is wrong because it threatens physical and mental health of children. Often such cases have fatal consequences in Georgia”, Davit Vardiashvili, 15, Tetritskaro public school.
In 2022, “112” application was upgraded and translated into 5 languages, and has integrated a special section about early/child marriage within the framework of the joint UN Programme for Gender Equality, which is implemented with the financial support of the Government of Sweden.
