Change girls\\\' status: UK minister

Junior British minister for international development Lynne Featherstone has asked Bangladeshi youths to campaign for a change in the condition of girls. ‘You young people are the change-makers. And I have to say girls and women can't do it on their own,' Featherstone said asking men and boys to play greater role to make a better world for their sisters, wives and daughters. 'Everyone can help to create this change for future generations. We must all play our part to alter girls' social expectations, to see them as valuable members of society, sources for hope for the future, and investments worth making,' she went on. 'The future isn't fixed. Together, if we raise our voices loud enough, we can build a better world for girls, and therefore a better world for everyone,' added the UK minister while addressing the first Girl Summit in Dhaka. Featherstone, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, is visiting Bangladesh to see for herself the steps being taken to end child marriage and prevent violence against women and girls. Her visit follows the London Girl Summit in July in which Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina vowed to end child and forced marriage. Bangladesh has the highest child marriage rate in South Asia – 65 per cent, the 4th highest in the world, according to a news agency.