UNA-NYC and Freedom United Empower 7th Graders to Engage with SDG 5
Photo: UN Women/Amanda Voisard
The United Nations Association of New York (UNA-NYC) is proud to announce its participation in the NYC Junior Ambassadors (NYCJA) program, an initiative of the Mayor’s Office for International Affairs which enables 7th graders in New York City to engage with the United Nations and learn about its work.
The NYCJA seeks to leverage NYC’s “unique position as host city to the UN headquarters to enable youth to see themselves as global citizens.” As the host city chapter of the United Nations Association, and with a strong commitment to engaging youth, we are delighted to help the program achieve this goal through a new collaboration with the Mott Hall School in Harlem.
On Tuesday, May 18, UNA-NYC kicked off the partnership with a virtual classroom discussion on SDG 5 (Gender Equality), which the class chose as its focus, through the lens of forced child marriage. We were pleased to be joined by our partner organization Freedom United, whose expertise on this form of modern slavery places them in an ideal position to lead such a conversation, and UNA-NYC board member and chair of education Dr. Chonita Spencer.
In order to introduce the topic, we watched Sitara: Let Girls Dream, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s award-winning animated short film depicting a child marriage in Lahore, Pakistan. Herrana Addisu, Freedom United’s New York-based advocacy officer, then led a lively discussion with the class tackling the events of the film. How did Pari, the protagonist, feel? What would have happened if she refused? What were the gender dynamics underpinning what happened? The 7th graders grappled with questions such as these with intelligence and enthusiasm, picking out moments and details of the film to support their comments and asking insightful questions.
As the conversation shifted to a discussion of child marriage in our own city, most of the students were surprised to learn that New York law allows 17-year-olds to marry with parental and judicial consent—and shocked to learn that in many states the minimum age for marriage is just 14. The students left the hour-long discussion informed and empowered to tackle the issue in their own communities. In the coming days and weeks, they will complete a project based on the discussion.
We plan to coordinate more classroom discussions with the Mott Hall School in the fall.
Learn more about Freedom United’s work on forced marriage and sign their petition here. You can watch Sitara: Let Girls Dream on Netflix.