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Prominent
artists engage UNFPA's 'stop Early Marriage' Campaign
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 ADDIS
ABEBA(March 5,2008) -
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) organized a canvas
painting event at Meskel Square on 7& 8 March 2008 participating
Ethiopia's prominent artists in its campaign under a theme "Stop
Early Marriage".
A painting of a 100 meter canvas, which is the largest piece of painting
ever painted in Ethiopia, by 30 of Ethiopia's prominent artists including
Desta Hagos, Alem Teklu, Bekele Mekonen, will be launched at the Square
on March 8, the International Women's Day, commemorated this year
under a theme "Investing in Women and Girls", UNFPA officials
disclosed on Monday.
Dr. Monique Rakotomalala, UNFPA Representative to Ethiopia at Hilton
said the canvas painting event is one of the major activities forming
part of the national campaign entitled "Stop Early Marriage",
which was conceived a few months ago by UNFPA, the Ministry of Youth
and Sports and the Population Council.
The campaign was graciously kicked-off under the auspices of Ethiopia's
First Lady, Azeb Mesfin, at the recent summit of the African First
Ladies.
"In tandem with the 4-days celebration of March 8 events, organized
by the Ministry of Women Affairs - this unique, participatory and
big-impact event is believed to be a key milestone in enhancing the
understanding of the public, policy-makers and development stakeholders
on early marriage"
"Early Marriage is one of the prevalent forms of gender-based
violence in Ethiopia with negative consequences on women's and girl's
reproductive health, including maternal deaths, fistula, HI V/AIDS
and other negative psycho-social problems," noted the UN agency
representative.
The team of artists participating in the canvas painting is Ethiopia's
celebrated artists, who will bring an interesting mixture of styles,
ages and gender to express their feelings for the fight against early
marriage. The canvas painting event will be taking place in full view
on the public. Booths set up at the venue will also provide information
regarding early marriage.
Gender is one of the core mandates of UNFPA and the organization has
built operational experience in preventing early marriage and addressing
the consequences of the practice in urban Ethiopia.
The "Stop Early Marriage" campaign will also be linked to
some key publicity events in 2008, including the Women's First Run
taking place on March 23rd; the Sixteen Days of Activism Against Gender
Based Violence and World Population Day. Currently UNFPA is running
radio and TV spots on national and regional radio and TV stations
as part of the campaign and the spots will be aired for three consecutive
months to come.
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