His Royal Majesty Olarker Philip Rauni III and Iveta Ouvry the Country Director Plan International Uganda

By Prisca Oroma

A global UNFA report on Covid-19 predicts that 13 million extra child marriages will occur the years following the pandemic crisis and 4 million more girls married in the next two years in Uganda and there has been cases of increased child rights violations such as rape, defilement, child marriage and transactional relations.

 In the Kingdom it is feared that over 12,000 girls have gotten pregnant in the past 2 years and over 500 forcefully married off by their parents or guardians.

It is on this basis that Alur Kingdom in partnership with Plan International Uganda launched the campaign dubbed “End child pregnancy and marriage in Alur land”

Speaking during the launch, Iveta Ouvry the Country Director Plan International Uganda said that one of the most worrying trends in Uganda is the increased number of girls being married under the age of 18 and those getting pregnant and this is greatly impacting on the wellbeing of newly born children in their first years.

“The situation exposes the lack of parenting skills of families and that is why Plan international Uganda has decided to work with the king to address some of these issues culturally” she said.

She said that there is no better time to join hands and call for an end to child marriage because cultural leaders can make critical contribution to having a child marriage free community.

In his remarks, His Royal Majesty Olarker Philip Rauni III said that the kingdom is committed to ending child marriage and teenage pregnancy in Alur land by use of cultural resources available and also collaborating with partners like Plan International-Uganda to ensure that girls remain children until they are ready for marriage at the age of 21 after completing their education.

He appreciated Plan International for the support and called on more partners to join so that the vice which is rapidly destroying the kingdom can be reduced.