No honeymoon for Africa’s under-18 brides

Despite international efforts to peg the age of marriage at 18, more than a million girls in the developing world have been married off before this, according to the Child Brides website.

The UN Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriages has only 16 ratifications and 55 member parties, despite being in existence since 1962.

The Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery has 123 parties who have committed to enacting minimum ages of marriage, but current data shows underage marriage is on the rise.

Forcing an underage girl into marriage is a gross violation of human rights, as they are deprived of their basic rights to health, education, development and equality.

A United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) report released last year notes that the  number of girls giving birth in sub-Saharan Africa before the age of 15 will rise by more than 1 million by 2030, if child marriage is not urgently tackled. 

The study projects that this figure will rise to three million in the next 17 years.

In addition, there is also a veil of silence over the coercion of boys into marriage before they reach adulthood in Africa and beyond, subjecting them to lifelong poverty, illiteracy and a myriad health complications.

The problem of child marriages is widespread in Africa, and is often fuelled by poverty, religion and traditions. In Niger, the prevalence rates stand at 75 per cent, according to the UNFPA. It is ranked as the worst scenario globally.

In Botswana, the BaZezuru and BaHerero people still arrange child marriages. The BaZezuru generally do not take their children to school, a major contributing factor to the practice.

Zimbabwean observers note that child marriages are more prevalent among members of some apostolic churches in the country. About 21 per cent of married women in the country are believed to be under the age of 18.

According to the Girl Child Network, 21 per cent of children (mostly girls) are married before the age of 18 in Zimbabwe.

Zambia’s 2011 Parliamentary Report on Child Marriages observed that social and economic factors that perpetuate child marriages are interconnected. Economic hardships encourage families to marry off their daughters, rather than send them to school.

In 2011, the Southern African country ranked 10th globally on prevalence of early marriages among girls and boys. Particularly notable in the report is the vast gender discrepancy, with 42 per cent of women aged 20-24 years, married before age 18, compared with only 5 per cent of men, indicating that girls are often married to older men.

The dual legal system in Zambia allows child marriages to take place. Under customary law, once a girl attains puberty, she can be married off with the consent of her parents.

Among Tanzania’s Zaramo people in the coastal region of Bagamoyo, parents often marry off their daughters to older men for economic gain. In return, they get cash or cattle.

The practice is also common in the country’s Mwanza and Mara regions, where some communities still view women as capital or assets. The country’s Marriage Act of 1971 allows 14-year-old children to marry with the consent of the parents or guardians. The government is now trying to review the law to ensure that marriage age is raised to 18.

Rural areas

In Kenya, the practice is still rampant in some rural areas, though the country’s new Marriage Bill outlaws marriage below the age of 18.

According to Plan Kenya, the national prevalence stands at 34 per cent for females and 1.4 per cent for males.

Child marriage in Uganda stands at 46 per cent, according to UNFPA, placing it among the worst 15 African countries.

The harmful consequences of child marriages across Africa are numerous, including isolation of these young children from their families and friends, lack of freedom to interact with peers and participate in community activities, and decreased opportunities for education.

Another report released last week by international human rights group Equality Now paints an even grimmer picture of how this practice thrives alongside female genital mutilation, sex trafficking, rape and domestic violence.

Reports point out that child brides are often exposed to domestic abuse from their older spouses leading to trauma and depression. Child marriage can also result in bonded labour or enslavement, commercial sexual exploitation and violence against the victims.

Girls married at a younger age are exposed to dangers of premature pregnancy since their bodies are not well developed, in addition to the emotional trauma, according to studies on the subject.

The child agency Unicef, notes that childbirth is the leading killer of adolescent girls in Africa. In 2013, Kenya was on the list of countries with a large number of teenage pregnancies globally, at 103 deaths in every 1,000 teenage pregnancies.

The infant mortality rate is also high for babies born to mothers under the age of 20, and those who survive are more likely to be premature and at risk of contracting HIV/Aids, according to the Child Brides website.

Premature childbirth can also lead to fistula — a defect associated with child birth that causes one to leak urine or faeces — leading to abandonment by their husbands and ostracisation by society.

These girls are also exposed to HIV/Aids and other sexually transmitted infections since they have no reproductive education or access to health services, due to being pulled out of school at elementary levels, curtailing their chances of acquiring information on contraceptives.

The denial of education again limits their employment opportunities.

“Child marriage is part of a sequence of discrimination that begins at a girl’s birth and continues throughout her entire life,” said Jacqui Hunt, London director of Equality Now.

“Furthermore, when a child bride gives birth, the vicious cycle of poverty, poor health, curtailed education, violence, instability, disregard for rule of law and legal and other discrimination often continues into the next generation, especially for any daughters she may have.”

Equality Now calls for a comprehensive approach linking the justice sector with healthcare, education, community and leaders.