Stop it! They are still children not brides

Rhoda Michael from the Mwanza Region of Tanzania, was 16-year-old when her parents decided she was old enough to be married. They pulled her from school when she was in Form Three and took her to an older man.

Her marriage lasted for three months only, and she fled after her father died in a car accident but her mother was adamant that she should stick to her marriage.

‘’I could not bear the prospect of being married even though I was a little girl because sometimes I wanted to go back home but my father forbade me,” she said.

Child marriage is driven by several factors including income poverty, social norms, adolescent fertility and weak legal and policy frameworks. Girls who marry early are more likely to experience domestic and sexual violence, reduced levels of sexual and reproductive health and lower levels of education.  Eliminating Child Marriage is one of the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Rhoda is currently running a small business, that does not meet her daily needs due to the low income she earns, she is no longer studying, and her dreams were shattered due to early marriage.

According to the Human Right Watch report of 2020, girls were often pulled out of school to marry, and they found it difficult to return to school after marriage.

Girls who became pregnant or married were frequently expelled. Tanzanian Government policy does not allow schools to include students who are married or become pregnant to continue attending lessons.

“I saw people coming home but did not know they had come to pay my bride price. I had no say at all, “Rhoda said.

One in every five girls is formally married or in an informal union before reaching the age of 18 according to UNICEF. Child marriage is a human rights violation, despite laws against it, the practice remains widespread globally. In the least developed countries, that number almost doubles by 36 per cent and 10 per cent of girls are married before age 15.

Child marriage is often the result of entrenched gender inequality, making girls disproportionately affected by the practice.

According to the United Nation report of 2021 More than 650 million women alive, today already suffered which has devastating consequences all over the world that is a global issue that is fueled by gender inequality, poverty, social norms and insecurity.

More than alive today were married in informal unions before their 18th birthday. Globally, 19 per cent of women between the ages of 20 and 24 were married to and or living with a partner before age 18. And while child marriage is most prevalent in low- and middle-income countries, no country is unsusceptible

According to the United Nation report of 2021 More than 650 million women alive, today already suffered which has devastating consequences all over the world that is a global issue that is fueled by gender inequality, poverty, social norms and insecurity.

Child marriage without the free and full consent of both spouses is a violation of human rights. Progressive legal frameworks are one element of the comprehensive response needed to successfully address child marriage

There is no single solution, actor or sector to end it, we must all work together. That looks different from one community to the next. Solutions must be local and contextual and integrated according to Girls Not Brides. Child marriage violates girls’ rights to health, education and opportunity.

When a girl gets married, they drop out of school to look after the home, children and extended family.

Rates of early marriage have substantially increased among children forced by conflict into displacement camps and crowded homes according to new data released by Save the Children 2022.

Tanzania has one of the highest child marriage prevalence rates, almost two out of five girls in Tanzania are married before their 18^th birthday. Tanzania Demographic and Health Survey (TDHS) 2015 shows that 31 per cent of women between 20 to 24 years were married when they were under 18 years.

UNICEF and other children’s rights organisations have repeatedly raised the red flag over child marriage since girls married before the age of 18 are more likely to have early pregnancies, experience dangerous complications in pregnancy and childbirth, acquire HIV, and experience domestic violence.

This, therefore, means, that ending child marriage will improve the health of millions of girls.

Tanzania’s Marriage Act of 1971 sets the minimum marriage age for girls at 15 with parental consent and 18 for boys. It permits the marriage of 14-year-old children when a court is satisfied that special, although unspecified, circumstances exist.

Fatuma Kimwaga who is an advocate for Tanzania Women Lawyers Association (TAWLA) says the organisation is working hard to defend the rights of children and women in general.

“Our campaign is to ensure that we are fighting against early marriage,” she says adding that parents and society at large who commit these acts on children cut short their dreams due to early marriage and they also suffer from the effects of poverty, they drop out school leading to early pregnancies,” she stated.

“Parents, guardians and relatives are the main culprits behind child marriage in the pursuit of wealth and self-interest without realizing that they are killing children’s dreams and also lead to consequences of serious health problems, so I condemn these actions from the family level to the community the advocate told AWiM News.

Despite the progress so far, “12 million girls are still marrying in childhood every year, causing irreversible damage to their future, health and well-being”, said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore had stated last year during the Annual Session.

“The next four years of the Programme are critical to driving momentum and action and ending this devastating practice once and for all”

To end the practice by 2030, the target set out in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), progress must be significantly accelerated. Without further acceleration, in ten years more than 120 million additional girls will marry before their 18th birthday.

In Tanzania, the campaign, which started in the Mara Region where child marriage is rampant creates awareness in communities about the rights of girls and the responsibility of all people to uphold them. It is part of a larger African Union initiative to end child marriage across the continent.

Child marriage is a violation of the rights of girls and women as well as a violation of Human Rights so education with the involvement of families, communities and the government will help in ending early marriage besides strengthening and enforcing laws.