The guideline book will help regional governments identify the issue of child marriage in their respective regions, steps to prepare an action plan, and stages to putting it into development planning documents, including at the level of villages.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Indonesian government, on Tuesday, launched the Practical Guideline for National Prevention Strategy of Child Marriage in Regions as a commitment of various ministries and institutions to lower child marriage prevalence.

"This practical guideline is a follow-up to the commitment of the joint regulation of ministries and institutions regarding child marriage reduction strategy," Deputy for Child Rights' Fulfilment at the Ministry of Women's Empowerment and Child Protection Pribudiarta Nur Sitepu stated here on Tuesday.

He noted that the guideline book will be distributed to all ministries, institutions, Women's Empowerment and Child Protection Offices, Health Offices, and city and district governments to guide them in preventing and reducing child marriage rates.

Deputy for Coordination of Children, Women, and Youth Quality Improvement at the Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Culture, Woro Srihastuti Sulistyaningrum, remarked that the book is a follow-up to the National Strategy for Child Marriage Prevention released in 2020.

"The national strategy is general in nature, so then we thought that a practical guideline is needed for regions because regional governments are often confused about how the strategy at the national level must be implemented in regions," she explained.

The guideline book will help regional governments identify the issue of child marriage in their respective regions, steps to prepare an action plan, and stages to putting it into development planning documents, including at the level of villages.

"It makes it easier for regions to resolve the issues of child marriage at the regional level," she remarked.

According to the Ministry of Women's Empowerment and Child Protection, nationally, the child marriage rate has declined in the last three years.

In 2021, the rate of child marriage was recorded to decrease, from 10.35 percent to 9.23 percent. Thereafter, in 2022, it fell to 8.06 percent and then plunged again to 6.92 percent in 2023.

This achievement surpassed the target set in the 2020-2024 National Medium Term Development Plan (RPJMN), namely 8.74 percent in 2024.

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Translator: Anita Permata, Raka Adji
Editor: Arie Novarina
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