Child marriages continue five years on



Child marriages continue, mostly in rural, mining and farming communities despite a landmark ruling that abolished the practice five years ago.
On January 20, 2016, the Constitutional Court ruled that Section 22 of the Marriages Act was unconstitutional and “no person, girl or boy should be married before the age of 18”.
Prior to the judgment, girls could get married aged 16, while boys could marry at 18.
The ruling followed a yearlong case from 2015, where two former young brides, Loveness Mudzuru and Ruvimbo Tsopodzi, filed an application asking the Constitutional Court to declare the Marriage Act and Customary Marriage Act a breach of the new Constitution.
In the ruling, the court further said other illegitimate marriages that have taken place on cultural or religious grounds are unconstitutional.
This has, however, not stopped the practice especially in poor communities where some girls marry to get out of poverty, while poor access to information has also been a contributing factor.
“Section 81(2) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment No. 20 Act 2013 states that a child’s best interests are paramount in every matter concerning the child and Section 81(e) protects every child from economic and sexual exploitation and any form of abuse,” said Teen Rescue Mission spokesperson Ailack Mwanza.
Mwanza said one in every three girls is married off before the minimum age requirement.
Lesley Mlambo who works with orphaned and vulnerable children in Goromonzi said many young girls marry before the age of 18.
“Most girls in this area are impregnated or get married before they reach 18 years of age which is a violation of the law,” she said.
Mlambo said there is need for regular sex education in communities.
“Most organisations focus on sex education in schools but in the community, especially at farms you find that most girls usually do not continue with education past primary level, thus there is need to diversify outreach programmes,” she said.
“Children are becoming sexually active at a young age thus there should be educated on safe sex to avoid marriages of convenience.”
Statistics show that 34 percent of girls in Zimbabwe are married before the age of 18 and 5 percent are married before their 15th birthday.
According to girlsnotbrides.org drivers of child marriages are “poverty: daughters are sometimes married off to reduce their perceived economic burden, with their bride price used by families as a means of survival.
“Level of education: Girls from Zimbabwe’s poorest households are more likely to marry before the age of 18 than girls living in the richest households. Many girls drop out of school because their parents cannot afford to pay school fees, which in turn puts girls at a higher risk of being married off.”
Other factors include religion where members of the apostolic sect, especially of Johanne Marange are married off as young as 10 years of age to older men. The marriages are often polygamous thus exposing young girls to STIs, while some die during child birth.
Most of the cases are not reported to the authorities as the church does not believe in modern medicines, thus not visiting health care centres.
“If a girl engages in pre-marital sex, is seen with a boyfriend or returns home late, she is sometimes forced to marry to mitigate the shame. Some girls who fall pregnant choose to enter customary marriages because they are afraid their family will abuse them for dishonourable behaviour,” says girlsnotbrides.org.
Mwanza said perpetrators of child marriages take advantage of religious beliefs, gaps in the law, extreme poverty, failing to access education and certain social norms that incite marriages.
“It is the duty of the Zimbabwean Government to protect the girl child by creating policies that target behavioural change in those tasked with the rights and responsibilities of female children,” he said.
“A lot of the girls affected by child marriages do so unwillingly and are coerced to enter into the marriages by their parents or relatives. Child marriages are considered as money-making schemes, on the basis of ‘lobola’.
“A parent would rather ‘sell’ their daughter in exchange for some money paid as lobola for survival especially in the dire financial constraints affecting the country. Moreso parents who engage in such a practice believe that the money acquired can be used to educate a son in the family instead.”
Mwanza added that a girl child who is married off early is deprived of basic rights such as, the ability to choose whom they want to get married to (autonomy), equality, fulfilling their dreams and ambitions, education and “fundamental rights such as reproductive rights to health that if not dealt with properly, will negatively affect the Zimbabwean society”.
Zimbabwe National Council for the Welfare of Children national director Reverend Taylor Nyanhete reiterated Mwanza’s sentiments.
“Sometimes it’s families that are accommodating that (child marriages). When a girl gets pregnant some parents feel that they rather have the man responsible marry their daughter that pressing criminal charges against the perpetrator,” said Rev Nyanhete.
“But in terms of rape, pregnancy can be terminated, that is before its three months as after it will be risky for the mother.”
Legal experts have called on Government to align marriage laws to the constitution to reduce child marriages.
“There is need to align the age of sexual consent and the legally prescribed age one is allowed to marry. This is a huge problem in a society that believes having sex or falling pregnant should guarantee one’s marriage,” said Tawanda Mukuruva, a legal practitioner.
Though the ConCourt ruling set a legal precedence, without alignment of laws, perpetrators of child marriages are able to navigate through loopholes.
“Ideally it (sexual consent) should be at the age of 18, below that it becomes a disadvantage to the girl child or the families that would have had their daughter impregnated.
“The Constitutional Court judgment which abolished child marriages was very progressive but unfortunately our laws have not been aligned to our constitution,” said Rev Nyanhete.
“When judgments are made by magistrates and the High Court, they rely on Acts. The Acts are yet to be aligned .One of such Acts is the Marriages Act which is (being revised and is) now a Bill harmonising all marriages that we know; civil, customary and other unions people undertake.”
The Marriage Bill was the nation’s hope in doing away with child marriages but failed to be passed into law last year as anticipated as various stakeholders were against some of its components.
It is, however, now before the senate, if approved will be brought before the President for assertion.
“The Children’s Act still talks about a child being 16 not 18 although our constitution is very clear that a child is anyone below the age of 18. Laws have not been aligned to that effect,” said Rev Nyanhete.
“So you still find marriage officers marrying off a child at 16 if there is consent of the parent or the Minister of Justice, so there is still that challenge.”
Efforts are however being made to align laws thus the repeal of Children’s Act was tabled before the cabinet last month, and is expected to be brought forth before the parliament for debate and public consultation.
“We need to scale up our campaigns in terms of raising awareness to the community, but it also needs to be backed by law so it will be water tight,” said Rev Nyanhete.
“Thus the alignment of law will go a long way in addressing that legally.”
Rev Nyanhete also encourages the access of sexual and reproductive health information from as early as 12 years of age.
“The argument is that they have right to that information. It will also help to reduce teen pregnancies and STIs. In schools there is already sex education and we also have the youth friendly centres within the Zimbabwe Family Planning Centres, which solves the problem where young girls approach health centres for information and are stigmatised by health officials,” he said. Nhau/Indaba

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