Women and Children Affairs Minister Abu Zafar Md. Zahid Hossain. File photo

SANGSAD BHABAN, July 15, 2026 (BSS) - Women and Children Affairs Minister Abu Zafar Md. Zahid Hossain today said the government has prevented a total of 
4,008 child marriages across the country over the past three years through coordinated efforts under existing laws, policies and the national action plan.

Replying to a tabled written question by reserved seat opposition (Jamaat-e-Islami) lawmaker Sabikunnahar in the Jatiya Sangsad (JS), the minister said 
4,008 child marriages were prevented between July 2023 and June 2026.

With Deputy Speaker Barrister Kayser Kamal in the chair, he said the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs has been implementing various programmes in 
line with the Child Marriage Restraint Act, 2017, the Child Marriage Restraint Rules, 2018 and the National Action Plan to Eliminate Child 
Marriage (2018-2030).

The Department of Women Affairs, under the ministry, has been carrying out a range of activities through the Accelerating Action to End Child Marriage in 
Bangladesh (Phase-II) project with financial and technical support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Zahid Hossain said.

These activities include training members of child marriage prevention committees formed at district, upazila and union levels under the Child 
Marriage Restraint Act and Rules, ensuring regular committee meetings, organising national-level committee meetings, initiating a review of the 
Child Marriage Restraint Act, 2017, holding consultations with marriage registrars, kazis, matchmakers, religious leaders and notary publics, and 
enhancing community engagement through union-level gender promoters to raise public awareness, he added.

The minister also said the National Helpline 109, a toll-free 24-hour service for preventing violence against women and children, along with 95 One-Stop 
Crisis Cells at district and upazila levels, has been playing an important role in preventing violence against women and children as well as child 
marriage.

He said regular monitoring activities are being conducted at the field level to prevent child marriage, while district and upazila women affairs officers 
continue awareness campaigns and monitoring through community courtyard meetings.

The minister further informed the House that district and upazila women affairs officers prevented 1,417 child marriages in 2024, 1,123 in 2025 and 
364 in 2026.