The wife of President Anthony Carmona has joined the chorus of people calling for an end to child marriages.
In a statement issued by President's House yesterday, Reema Carmona said child marriages should be a feature of the past.
This as the Senate is set to resume debate today on legislation to end child marriages in T&T.
Carmona said little girls must be afforded the opportunity "to grow, flourish, prosper and to realise their full potential with unstinting guidance and support from parents and the society at large."
Carmona said citizens must be concerned about nurturing and creating distinguished, educated, healthy and happy human beings.
"Child Marriage is an anachronism that bears no relevance to a progressive holistic society."
She said the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child was clear in creating internationally accepted and agreed upon benchmark practices as to how we ought to treat and empower a child.
"The legal age for marriage ought to be changed to the international benchmark age of 18 so as to allow girls to live healthy, fulfilling lives with the requisite educational and professional opportunities," she said.
She said a girl should be provided with the same opportunities as boys to go to school and pursue a career and excel in whatever field she desires.
Carmona said consequently, in T&T, "appropriate legislation must be put in place and enforced to ensure that our innocent children are always protected."
Carmona recalled that her grandmother was a 13-year-old bride. She said her grandmother wanted to become a teacher. She never got the chance to realise her ambition to be that teacher. My loving grandmother would have been a great teacher.
"Her husband fulfilled his personal ambition, she did not. She was forced to stifle her dreams and was unable to truly fulfil her personal aspirations because of her child marriage."
Carmona said she did not want that "to ever happen again to an innocent child of 13 years."
She agreed with the resolve of the United Nations that Child Marriage must be a feature of the past. She said moves to change the situation via legislation in Parliament was "a just, compassionate and honourable fight."
General Secretary of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha Satnarayan Maharaj is threatening legal action against moves to increase the legal age for a girl to marry 18. The Hindu Marriage Act allows for girls to marry at age 13. The law is also seeking to increase the minimum age at which Muslim, Orisa and other girls can marry to 18.
Debate is expected to continue in the Senate at 1.30 this afternoon.
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?Reema Carmona is a member of the First Ladies Meeting Group which works with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to highlight, proffer and execute solutions to issues facing teenage girls and the type of investments needed for young people in the Caribbean to fulfil their full potential. The UNFPA together with the First Ladies Meeting Group put forward a proposal titled, " Every Caribbean Girl, Every Caribbean Woman" for submission to the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI).
CGI is an international movement that aims to create and implement solutions to the world's problems. These include issues affecting girls and women, the built environment, education and workforce development, energy, environmental stewardship, food systems, global health, market based approaches, response and resilience and technology.