By CLARA BWALYA-KAWIMBE –
child marriage is a gross human rights violation which puts girls at risk of violence and ill health.
It also denies them the opportunity to fully contribute to society and keeps them locked up in poverty.
However, in the past 10 years, early child forced marriage, which is a global problem that impedes development, wellbeing and life options of the victims, has emerged as one of the neglected human rights violations and only recently started to receive fresh attention.
Zambia is among the countries with the highest prevalence of early marriages in the world.
Despite the difficulties of getting reliable data, it is estimated that many Zambian women are married before the legal age of 21 years.
The Zambian Government has put in place institutions like the Victim Support Unit (VSU) of the Zambia Police Service which focuses on cases of gender-based violence (GBV) and the ministry of Gender, which has also put in place a Gender Policy being implemented to achieve gender equality.
It also addresses vices like early marriages, which are impediments to gender equality.
Zambia has also signed and ratified international, regional and sub-regional conventions, treaties and protocols like the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child whose guiding principle and spirit is in the best interest of the child, and obligates countries to protect children from such vices as child, early and forced marriage and to take positive action to promote their rights.
Zambia is also party to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) which it has domesticated, the African Women’s Protocol on the Rights of Women and the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development.
All these instruments require Government to put in measures to end child, early and forced marriages.
Thus, Lifeline/ChildLine Zambia, in partnership with Save the Children Zambia, which are both Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), held a stakeholders’ meeting in Kitwe on the Copperbelt to strategise on how this can effectively work in curbing early marriages in Lufwanyama District as the vice is more prominent in rural parts of the province.
Lifeline/ChildLine Zambia programme manager Don Miyanda explained that the purpose of the meeting was to ensure that all stakeholders were brought on board.
Among the stakeholders are traditional leaders, who play a vital role in ensuring that vices which are not good for their subjects are prohibited in their respective chiefdoms.
Mr Miyanda said key leaders in communities, who include traditional leaders, are critical in curbing early marriages as they will help in sensitising the people to ensure that there are no such cases.
He noted that once people are sensitised, they do not only get educated but know the complications that come with early marriages.
He said if traditional leaders pass a decree that early and forced child marriages would not be tolerated in a particular chiefdom, such actions are perceived as by-laws and people adhere to them, hence their role in eliminating early marriages is important and cannot be overlooked if the scourge is to be curbed.
He further explained that the two NGOs chose to work in Lufwanyama because not many NGOs were working in remote places, and that there was need to take the service where it was needed the most.
Mr Miyanda outlined that if they are closer to the people the move will add to the elimination of the vice as Lufwanyama was left out due to the fact that most of the NGOs concentrate on working in other districts other than Lufwanyama.
A United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) sub-analysis of the 2007 Zambia Demographic Health Survey (ZDHS) indicated that two out of five girls (about 42 per cent) were married before their 18th birthday.
This analysis showed that girls living in poverty and in rural areas faced a higher risk of early marriages, especially those without access to education.
In addition, sexually transmitted infections, HIV/AIDS inclusive, and complications of early motherhood affect the social wellbeing of girls who go through early marriages and deny them the right to enjoy their childhood.
This is why Chieftainess Shimukunami of the Lamba people in Lufwanyama District on the Copperbelt dissolves any marriages which violate or puts the victim at risk in her chiefdom as one way of addressing the vice.
The traditional leader explained that this has helped to reduce the cases of early marriages in her chiefdom which has led to reduced cases of such marriages.
And Chief Lumpuma shared his views on child marriages by saying he is equally concerned about the issue, hence 28 zones have been established in his chiefdom where women and men sensitise the people on the dangers of marrying off their children at a tender age.
“It is very important to encourage girls to go to school because once they are educated, they will know that early marriages are not only a threat to their health, but may also be prone to GBV due to over-dependence on men,” he said.
Senior Chief Chiwala of the Lamba people of Masaiti District has engaged the VSU since 2013 to sensitise his people in the chiefdom on early marriages.
The traditional leader is concerned about the increasing number of early marriages in his chiefdom.
“What I have discovered during the tour of my chiefdom is that most people lack awareness on issues such as early marriages, gender-based violence and defilement, so my appeal is for Government to move in and help our chiefdom in the fight against such vices,” he said.
The traditional leader noted that the people in the chiefdom were sensitised that such vices were against the law and warned that those found wanting would be prosecuted.
Apart from these initiatives by the chiefs, the Zambian Government in 2011 passed a comprehensive law, the Anti-Gender Based Violence Act which criminalises the acts of child marriages.
The United Nations Development Programme, working with other UN agencies — UNFPA, UNICEF, International Labour Organisation and International Organisation for Migration, with financial support from the governments of Sweden and the Republic of Ireland led the development of the United Nations Joint Programme on GBV.
The programme is aimed at reducing GBV in Zambia through the establishment of an integrated and multi-sectoral mechanism for implementation of the GBV Act.
The US$15 million programme will provide women experiencing GBV with increased access to timely and appropriate health services, efficient justice delivery system, protection and support services.
It is expected to end in December this year and will contribute directly and indirectly to the reduction in maternal mortality in Zambia.
Using chiefs has been the most effective way of reducing child marriages because when the traditional leaders are directly involved, they make pronouncements that discourage people from getting involved in early and forced marriages in their communities.
Vice-President-elect Inonge Wina recently assured that the Government was committed to addressing the problem of child marriages, adding that the scourge demands concerted efforts from all stakeholders.
Partnerships between civil society organisations and the Government are also other effective ways of combating child marriages.
Once early and forced marriages are curbed in communities, it is expected that children would grow into responsible adults and maximise their potential to contribute to Zambia’s development.—ZANIS