Cam Lam: Promoting the role of prestigious people in reducing early marriage and incestuous marriage

The situation of child marriage and incestuous marriage is gradually being pushed back in localities in Cam Lam district. This is the result of the synchronous participation of the entire district political system, including the contribution of prestigious people in the ethnic minority community in the district.

The "gatekeeper" of the village

Suoi Lau 2 Village (Suoi Cat Commune, Cam Lam District), where many ethnic minorities live, used to be a hot spot for early marriage and incestuous marriage. However, thanks to the persistent propaganda and mobilization of Mr. Cao Thanh Lieu - Village Chief, who has been the village chief for more than 15 years and is also a prestigious person in the village, this situation has been effectively controlled. "I regularly propagate through village meetings, national solidarity festivals; together with commune officials, I go to each household to check marriage registration. If we discover cases of underage marriage, we make a record and report to the authorities to promptly prevent it," Mr. Lieu shared. Up to now, there are no more cases of early marriage and incestuous marriage in the village. A typical example is Mr. Cao Nguyen's family, poor with many children, so he has to follow his mother to the fields every day to cultivate. Because he dropped out of school early, he gathered friends and planned to get married at the age of 14. However, with the encouragement of Mr. Cao Thanh Lieu, he waited until marriageable age to get married. Up to now, he and his wife have 3 children, and a stable income from hundreds of mango trees that are bearing fruit.

Mr. Cao Thanh Lieu and union members in Suoi Cat commune propagate and mobilize a case of early marriage.

Similarly, in Suoi Lau 1 village, Mr. Mang Tinh witnessed many heartbreaking consequences of early marriage and incestuous marriage among ethnic minorities. After being elected as the village chief and a prestigious person, he determined to take drastic action to prevent this bad practice. “Five years ago, there was a case of a 13-year-old girl in the village who was about to get married. We went to her house to explain the legal and reproductive health risks of getting married underage. Fortunately, the girl’s family listened and agreed to wait until she was old enough to get married. Now, the young couple’s first child has been born healthy,” Mr. Tinh recalled. Thanks to Mr. Tinh’s persistent efforts, in the past there were 4 to 5 couples getting married early in the village, but now this number has decreased significantly.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Yen - Vice Chairman of Suoi Cat Commune People's Committee said that the main cause of early marriage is that a group of young people drop out of school early, lack legal knowledge and are lured by friends. In the coming time, the locality will continue to strengthen propaganda on this issue, especially integrating it into extracurricular activities at secondary schools in the commune; at the same time, continue to promote the role of prestigious people in the community, organize delegations to each high-risk household to directly mobilize with the goal of completely eliminating early marriage and incestuous marriage in the area.

Significant change from the right way of doing things

In Van Son village (Cam Phuoc Tay commune), in previous years, due to difficult economic conditions, combined with inadequate awareness, many children dropped out of school early and got married before reaching the age of majority. Recently, thanks to the persistent advocacy of village elders, village chiefs, and influential people on this issue, awareness in the community has changed significantly. Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuoc Ngoc - Vice Chairman of Cam Phuoc Tay Commune People's Committee said: In 2024, the locality has stepped up propaganda in the form of dramatization, organized many training courses on knowledge for influential people on early marriage and consanguineous marriage so that they can continue to be the "locomotive" to spread legal information to each household. Currently, the village has no more cases of consanguineous marriage and the situation of early marriage has decreased significantly.

Mr. Cao Thanh Lieu (left cover) and Mr. Mang Tinh (right cover) share joy with Mr. Cao Nguyen's family.

According to Mr. Do Minh Thanh - Vice Chairman of Cam Lam District People's Committee, the district currently has 8 prestigious people among ethnic minorities. Prestigious people have great influence in the work of mobilizing ethnic minorities. In addition to promptly implementing policies and regimes to care for and motivate this force, the district also focuses on promoting the role of prestigious people in implementing Sub-project 2 - Project 9 under the National Target Program on Socio-economic Development of Ethnic Minorities and Mountainous Areas to reduce child marriage and consanguineous marriage. Thanks to that, the number of cases of child marriage has decreased gradually over the years and to date there have been no cases of consanguineous marriage.

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Source: https://baokhanhhoa.vn/xa-hoi/202506/cam-lam-phat-huy-vai-tro-nguoi-co-uy-tin-trong-giam-thieu-tao-hon-hon-nhan-can-huyet-thong-200206a/