When the group hear of a case of early marriage, the first thing they do is obtain evidence of the bride’s age by obtaining a copy of her birth certificate from the town hall.
“If we find that the girl is not 18 years old as the law says, we file a complaint with the police so that they can take up the case. By doing this, we do not become publicly known, the rest of the process is handled by the relevant authorities, because if we show up, the family in question is capable of harming us.”
The group’s work is recognised by state services and the club have reported a number of cases of rape to the authorities.
“The last rape case that we handled just a month ago was transferred to court to be tried. So far, a judgment has not been made and we have encountered difficulties in holding the trial because the accused is a soldier who uses his friends to intimidate us so that we will settle the case out of court.”
Fatoumata and her colleagues regularly experience threats, but Fatoumata says this will not discourage her and her friends from continuing their fight for justice. “Despite the intimidation we face, we will not stop this fight, we are more than determined to defend the rights of girls, even at the cost of our own lives.”
“We ask Plan International to continue to support us because the workload is huge. We want to keep on strengthening our capacities and create a mechanism for reporting cases of rape and abuse, this will allow us to be safer and more operational on the ground.”