Closure of the exchange and evaluation workshop on the process of combating early marriages and unwanted Pregnancies in schools

On November 30, 2021, Honorable Dévote Faida, President of the Standing Committee in charge of Gender Issues and Relations with the Legislative Assembly of the East African Community, closed the proceedings of the exchange and evaluation workshop on the process of fighting against early marriages and unwanted pregnancies for students, in the chief-town of Karusi province.

Honorable Devote Faida, in her speech, recalled that that workshop which had just ended had also been organized in the regional centers namely those of Ngozi, Rutana and Bujumbura city. On the whole, those workshops materialize the determination of the Senate of Burundi to curb definitively that phenomenon of early marriages and unwanted pregnancies in schools, she added.

She indicated that during that workshop, presentations and testimonies from eminent speakers led to the formulation of recommendations to the various institutions which, once implemented, will inevitably reduce the rate of early marriages. Likewise, honorable senators, as representatives of the people, made a firm commitment to continue that battle to achieve zero early marriage and zero unwanted pregnancy in schools.

In addition, those workshops were organized to challenge all state institutions, the national community and parents who constitute the three lines of the children’s rights protection, to combine all their energies, face that scourge and eradicate it definitively.

The President of the Standing Committee having Gender issues in its attributions said that this  workshop will bring great added value to the accomplishment of the missions entrusted to the Senate. It equipped the Honorable senators with tools they will use in monitoring the government action concerning the defense of the children’s rights, the preservation of culture and national customs.

She said she was confident that all those workshops organized on the fight against early marriages and unwanted pregnancies for students will significantly contribute to improving the well-being of the population, in general, and of the youth, in particular.

Finally, she thanked, on behalf of the Senate and on her own behalf, the UNICEF Office and the CNIDH for having supported the holding of that workshop and their multifaceted support that they bring to the Burundian Senate.

During those workshops, after exchanges and debates on the presentations given by the facilitators and the testimonies given by the various officials, recommendations were made toward various education partners;

To the Senate of Burundi:

• support the improvement, revision and establishment of a Burundianlegal and institutional framework aimed at the prevention andrepression of GBV as well as the promotion of positive Burundian valuesand the protection of the children’s rights;

• Advocate to support the process of adopting the Child Protection Code;

• harmonize the law on GBV with the Criminal Code;

• convey an awareness message on the eradication of earlymarriages and unwanted pregnancies among students as they do for security, political andother issues.

To the Government:

• popularize the laws and legal texts in force while ensuring their implementation;

• pursue its policy of keeping the adolescents and the youth in schools throughout the school course;
•  ensure access to comprehensive health education for adolescents and youth;

• develop the leadership and economic empowerment for adolescents and youth;

• revise the age of majority upwards from 18 to 21 years for girls and from 21 to 25 years for boys;

• organize broadcast and television programs on the consequences of early marriages and unwanted pregnancies.

To the Government and its partners:

-improve access to complete and correct information on physiological changes in the body and on sexual and reproductive health;

-improve parental education, close monitoring and supervision of youth and adolescents;

-develop a guide to incorporate on sexuality education and reproductive health;

– strengthen the leadership of adolescent girls in the fight against early pregnancy and marriage as well as school dropouts;

– build the capacities of actors (parents, religious, community and administrative leaders) to become more involved in the fight against early marriages and pregnancies for teenagers and youth as well as school dropouts;

 – promote the use of ICT as a communication tool suitable for the youth.

To the justice:

• apply the law in its rigor in order to deal ruthlessly with the perpetrators of early marriages and unwanted pregnancies in schools;

• build the capacities of magistrates in investigating the perpetrators of unwanted pregnancies for school children so as to facilitate the rapid investigation of related cases and thus reduce the number of children of unknown fathers;

To the CNIDH:

– ensure the coordination, mobilization of resources and the monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of the recommendations made.

 – Strengthen the management of the problem of pregnancies in school and non-school environment;

 – mobilize sufficient resources for its implementation;

To the UNICEF and other technical partners:

– support the Government and its institutions in the implementation of the recommendations made in the direction of curbing early marriages and unwanted pregnancies for school children.

To the Provincial Directors of Education:

– make school principals aware of the content of the school regulations in force;

To the school principals:

– revitalize school clubs for sexuality education;

– create a framework for collaboration between parents, DPEs, prosecutors and provincial police commissioners and court officials to denounce the perpetrators of unwanted pregnancies among students.

To the religious denominations:

 – convey awareness messages aimed at eradicating this scourge to their faithful in the churches.

To the parents:

 – behave decently to serve as a good model for their children;

– know how to listen to children and supervise them;

– strengthen the frank dialogue between parents and children on sexual health;

 – pay particular attention to the permissions granted to children to go to parties, especially when they are unaccompanied;

 – avoid exposing to children disputes between parents and ensure that those disputes are resolved without their children’s knowledge.