By enacting a bill to outlaw child marriage, Sierra Leone is receiving recognition for making a significant contribution to the protection of children’s rights. At a ceremony on July 2, President Julius Maada Bio signed the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act into law. First Lady Fatima Bio spearheaded the “Hands Off Our Girls” campaign, which aims to shield children from early marriage and sexual assault.
Any guy who marries a girl younger than eighteen could be sentenced to at least fifteen years in jail and fined approximately four thousand dollars. In addition to punishing those who plan or participate in these marriages, the law also provides assistance, counseling, and protection to girls who have already been impacted by the practice.
According to the 2019 Sierra Leone Demographic and Health Surveys, 30 percent of girls in Sierra Leone were married before they turned 18, making it one of the highest rates of child marriage in Africa. In order to help children live their best lives, activists hope that this new law will better protect girls in the West African nation and encourage other African nations with high rates of child marriage to enact similar laws.
A global organization called Girls Not Brides, which works to eliminate child marriage, has issued a warning: 15 million girls marry before turning 18 every year, and 1.2 billion girls will marry as youngsters by 2050 if current trends continue.
Girls who marry young frequently never get the chance to realize their full potential because they leave school too early, experience domestic abuse, and lack access to quality healthcare. Some even pass away due to problems during pregnancy and labor since their bodies are not prepared. Many nations suffer economically from child marriage, and it is concerning that some, especially in West and Central Africa, still permit the practice.
Despite the acceptance of numerous international conventions against child marriage, the following African nations have high rates of this practice:
1. Niger
In Niger, 28% of girls are married before turning 15 and 76% of girls get married before turning 18. These statistics come from a research published by Girls Not Brides. According to a 2017 World Bank/ICRW research, Niger could save more than $188 million if child marriage was outlawed. However, the practice is still prevalent because of the nation’s extreme poverty, low educational attainment, cultural and religious beliefs, and the notion that boys and girls are somehow superior to women.
Insecure and violent communities, girls are also pressured to marry young because their families think marriage will shield them from abuse or harassment. The majority of marriages in Niger are governed by customary law, despite the Civil Code’s minimum age of marriage being 15 for girls and 18 for boys. According to Girls Not Brides, the nation has made a number of steps to stop child marriage, but these efforts are typically thwarted by social groups or religious authorities.
2. Chad
In Chad, the legal age of marriage for both boys and girls is eighteen. The Chad Parliament approved an ordinance in 2015 that raised the marriage age from 15 to 18 years old and was signed by President Idriss Deby. However, due to legal issues, more people are getting married sooner. The Peul/Foulbe ethnic group has the greatest rates of child marriage, with 61% of females getting married before becoming 18 and 24% getting married before turning 15. In addition to factors including poverty, religious beliefs, relocation, and polygamy, 57% of women with no formal education or merely a pre-primary education were married before turning 18 but only 21% of women with a higher education degree did the same.
3. Central Africa Republic
In the Central African Republic, as in the other two nations, child marriages are caused by poverty, conflict, religion, gender norms, and female-gendered violence. Given that the nation has one of the lowest GDPs in the world and since child marriage is allegedly more widespread in Muslim communities, many families marry off their daughters in exchange for bride prices and to relieve them of the responsibility of providing for their female offspring. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that 26% of girls and 61% of girls in the Central African Republic get married before becoming 15 or before turning 18.
4. Mali
Given that Mali is among the world’s poorest nations, some parents think that getting their daughters married off young will improve their lot in life. According to a 2015 study, 36% of women in the wealthiest households and 51% of women in the poorest households got married before turning 18.
Overall, 16% of girls in Mali are married before becoming 15 and 54% of females get married before turning 18. According to a 2017 World Bank analysis, Mali may gain an extra $174.8 million in productivity if child marriage is outlawed. Mali began its national campaign, “Education for girls: a means to eliminating early child marriage,” in 2015 as a part of the African Union Campaign to End Child Marriage in Africa. Since then, it has been actively creating nationwide action plans to end child marriage. It promised to step up efforts to improve gender equality in 2021 at the Generation Equality Forum in France by committing to a five-year action plan.
5. Malawi
According to a 2016 report referenced by Girls Not Brides, many Mozambican families turned to child marriage “as a coping mechanism in a context of food scarcity, poverty and economic insecurity” amid the El Niño-induced drought. Indeed, among other things, adolescent pregnancy, poverty, lack of access to school, and polygamy are the main causes of child marriages in the nation.In Mozambique, 17% of girls are married before becoming fifteen, and 53% of females get married before turning eighteen.
Although the minimum age for unions is set at 18 by the 2019 Law on Preventing and Combating Premature Unions, little has been done to lower the high rate of early marriage in Mozambique, particularly in the region of Cabo Delgado, where an Islamist insurgency is still active.
Save the Children reports that the number of early and forced marriage cases in the province is rising due to the kidnapping and forced marriage of girls by armed groups or by families who demand a bride price.