3 ZEROES wants zero child marriage, end violence against women by 2030

A new platform on women’s sexual rights and violence against women —3Zeroes.ActionNetwork — was launched on Sunday with the aim to ensure sexual reproductive health care and achieve zero child marriage across Bangladesh within 2030, the deadline to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Achieving these targets can ensure achieving 50 per cent of the SDGs, said the platform’s core convener Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman, who is also the executive chairman of the Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC).

At a press conference held at the new platform’s secretariat at Dhanmondi, he said the three zeroes are zero unmet need for family planning and SRH, zero preventable maternal mortality, and zero gender-based violence and harmful practices including child marriage.

PPRC and UNFPA Bangladesh are the strategic partners to facilitate a big push on the 3 ZEROES agenda. According to him, the platform is a coalition of the willing where every organisation working with the issues are welcome to take part voluntarily.

The new platform will be structured around a national convening committee, thematic advisory groups, grass-root focal points and a secretariat. It will be open to the membership of individuals and institutions. Both the structure and operational modalities will be finalised through a consultative process soon, organisers said.

Zillur said the new platform will pursue a triple action agenda — promote greater cross-sectoral dialogues and community engagement, strengthen knowledge management and advocacy, and track progress on the realisation of the three zeroes agenda.

“In this regard, a report would be published yearly to track the achievements across the country,” he added.

He said, “A big push, as well as an integrated push, is needed right now. If we want to reduce maternal mortality, we need to improve delivery service. If we want to reduce gender-based violence, we need to reduce child marriage.

“We aim to generate a 3Zeroes tracker, to capture all kinds of data, including generating primary data of our own. By 2030, we should achieve significant progress on these goals.”

Kristine Blokhus, the country representative of UNFPA, said this cooperation will help build the kind of national movement required to eliminate child marriage, prevent gender-based violence, and reduce maternal mortality.

It will re-energise stakeholders to develop more specific and concrete solutions to fully realize the 3 Zeroes in Bangladesh, she added.

Professor Md Mainul Islam of Dhaka University’s Department of Population Sciences said that a great portion of the labour contribution in the formal sector is women and child marriage can hinder progress as it is rampant in recent times.

“I believe some 50 per cent of the goals can be achieved if we can achieve the three zeroes,” he added.