Auckland Youth to March against Rape Culture and Forced Marriage

5th June 2018

High school students from across Auckland involved in Shakti Youth are organising a Future Without Violence Youth March for Saturday June 9th at 1pm, starting from Britomart. Young people are at the highest risk of sexual assault out of any other age group. An estimated 1 in 3 girls will experience sexual abuse before the age of 16 years old, and the 16-24 age group are statistically four times more likely to experience sexual assault than any other age group.

On top of this, some migrant and refugee background youth are faced with forced marriage, fetishisation and excessive family control/pressures.

“While the #MeToo movement has sparked some much-needed conversations around consent and rape culture, it has failed to address the issues faced by migrant and refugee youth. There are multiple barriers for migrant and refugee youth to disclosing their experiences, such as isolation, language barriers, honour-based violence and cultural stigma,” says Emma Cho, Auckland Shakti Youth Coordinator.

“Despite what some people may believe, forced marriage can and does happen in Aotearoa too. We want people to know that just because you can't see it, it doesn't mean it doesn't happen,” she continues.

“We want to empower young girls of our age who are forced to marry when they are meant to focus on their future. We want to ensure that future generations can be violence free and be safe for youth,” says Ranisha Chand, year 12 Shakti Youth leader.

“It’s important to have culturally sensitive consent education in our schools put into place because it can prevent sexual violence and forced marriage,” Shannyl Kumar, year 13 Shakti Youth leader.

Shakti Youth high school leaders are calling for these set of demands to address rape culture and forced marriage:

For consent education to be taught earlier, be culturally sensitive and to include education on consent between friends and family.
Improved training on consent for counsellors, teachers and anyone working with youth.
Increase resourcing of organisations that support sexual violence survivors.

“We want to show that youth have a voice which deserve to be heard, and to show how powerful youth are to create social change,” says June, year 11 Shakti Youth leader.

The march will feature speeches and performances from youth across Auckland addressing the need for transformative changes to stop rape culture and forced marriages in New Zealand and internationally.

ENDS

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