'Child marriage in The Gambia' as part of the Child Marriage in Africa study

Abstract

The Gambia report forms part of the 10 country study on 'Child Marriage in Africa' by the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria. The report examines the prevalence, causes and impacts of child marriage in
The Gambia.

It sets out the legal frameworks that prohibit child marriage and describes some of the circumstances that result in laws being ineffective in practice. Without discounting the needs of children who are already married or adults who were married as children, it outlines a selection of successful interventions and makes recommendations towards the progressive elimination of child marriage in The Gambia.

Full text

A REPORT ON
CHILD MARRIAGE
IN AFRICA
This report provides an overview of child marriage in Africa,
focusing in particular on information about child marriage in
the following ten countries: Cameroon, the DRC, the Gambia,
Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, South Africa
and Uganda. It examines the prevalence, causes and impacts
of child marriage in Africa. It also sets out the legal frame-
works that prohibit child marriage and describes some of the
circumstances that result in laws being ineffective in practice.
The outcomes of the study in this report is intended to assist
States Parties to the Maputo Protocol and other stakeholders
to strengthen implementation of the legal prohibitions on child
marriage, adopt appropriate strategies for eradicating child
marriage and protect the human rights of all children and
especially girls.
A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA
ISBN: 978-1-920538-79-8

A REPORT ON CHILD
MARRIAGE IN AFRICA
2018

Authorship And Acknowledgements
This Report was developed by the Centre for Human Rights, in collaboration with the
African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and the mechanism of the Special
Rapporteur on the Rights of Women in Africa. The country reports were written and
researched by country researchers, with Dr Ashwanee Budoo and Darsheenee Ramnauth
compiling and analysing the findings to provide for the recommendations.
The 10 country researchers were as follows: Cameroon: Hermine Patricia Ndjandjo, DRC:
Prisca Ntabaza, Mauritania: Saleck Ould Jeireb, Mozambique: Christina Hunguana, Mali:
Zoumana Fane, Malawi: Chisomo Kaufulu-Kumwenda, Uganda: Dorah Mafabi, Kenya:
Carole Osero-Ageng’o, South Africa: Yvonne Oyieke and in The Gambia: Satang Nabaneh.
Editorial support was provided by Karen Stefiszyn and Kate Painting. The design and
layout was done by Daniël du Plessis.
Electronic copies of the tool are available for download at www.chr.up.ac.za
The African Commission Special Rapporteur on Rights of Women. The Special
Rapporteur on Rights of Women in Africa was established by the African Commission
at the 23rd Ordinary Session which was held in Banjul, The Gambia, in April 1998, in
recognition of the need to place particular emphasis on the problems and rights specific
to women in Africa.
The Centre for Human Rights. The Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria
is both an academic department and a non-governmental organisation, and works
towards human rights education in Africa, greater awareness of human rights, the wide
dissemination of publications on human rights in Africa and the improvement of the
rights of women, people living with HIV, indigenous peoples, sexual minorities and other
disadvantaged or marginalised persons and groups across the continent.

LIST OF ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS
ACERWC: African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of
the Child
ACHPR: African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights
AIDS: Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
APRM: African Peer Review Mechanism
CAT: Convention against Torture
CEDAW: Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of
Discrimination Against Women
CHR: Centre for Human Rights
CRC: Convention on the Rights of the Child
DHS: Demographic and Health Surveys
DRC: Democratic Republic of the Congo
FGM: Female genital mutilation
HIV: Human Immunodeficiency Virus
ICCPR: International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
ICRW: International Centre for Research on Women
MICS: Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys
NGO: Non-Governmental Organisation
OHCHR: Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights
SRRWA: Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women in Africa
UNFPA: United Nations Population Fund
UNICEF: United Nations Children’s Fund
UPR: Universal Periodic Review

CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 7
1.1 Background 9
1.2 Study objectives 12
1.3 Methodology 12
1.4 Key terms and assumptions 14
CHAPTER 2: CONTEXT AND CAUSES 17
2.1 Prevalence of child marriage in Africa 19
2.1.1 Overview 19
2.1.2 Prevalence by country 21
2.2 Causes of child marriage in Africa 25
2.2.1 Gender inequality 25
2.2.2 Cultural and religious norms that promote
or perpetuate child marriage 26
2.2.3 Poverty 29
2.2.4 Lack of access to education 32
2.2.5 Legal frameworks 34
2.2.6 Inadequacy of registration procedures 36
2.2.7 Armed conflict and sexual violence 38
CHAPTER 3: IMPACTS OF CHILD MARRIAGE 39
3.1 Girls Education 41
3.2 Sexual and reproductive health and rights 42
CHAPTER 4: LAW 45
4.1 International and regional law on child marriage 47
4.1.1 International and regional legal frameworks 47
4.1.2 Jurisprudence 49
4.2 Domestic Law 53
4.2.1 Statutory law 53
4.2.2 Customary and religious law 55
4.3 Enforcement of laws on child marriage 56
CHAPTER 5: INTERVENTIONS 59
5.1 Improved enforcement and remedial measures 61
5.2 Education policies 64
5.3 Public education 67
5.4 Poverty reduction and basic service delivery 70
CHAPTER 6: RECOMMENDATIONS 71
6.1 Recommendations for prevention 74
6.2 Recommendations for protection 72
ANNEXURE 1
Research template for country level child marriages studies 80

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA 9
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
This report has been prepared at the request of the Special Rapporteur on
the Rights of Women in Africa (SRRWA), a special mechanism of the African
Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Commission). The SRRWA
is mandated to follow up on implementation of the African Charter on Human
and Peoples’ Rights (African Charter) and its Protocol on the Rights of Women
in Africa (Maputo Protocol) by, among other things, preparing reports on the
situation of women’s rights in Africa and proposing recommendations to be
adopted by the African Commission.1
With reference to the prohibition against child marriage in the Maputo
Protocol and consistent with its campaign to combat child marriage, during the
16th Extraordinary Session in Kigali, Rwanda in 2014, the African Commission
adopted a resolution on the need to conduct a study on child marriage in Africa.2
According to the resolution, the report was to be informed by country studies
which have since been carried out in Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of
Congo (DRC), the Gambia, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, South
Africa and Uganda.
The African Commission’s campaign to combat child marriage in Africa
complements an increased global focus on eradicating child marriage: in 2013,
the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution aimed at
strengthening efforts to prevent and eliminate child marriage3 and in 2014, the
United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
issued a global report on preventing and eliminating child, early and forced
1 Commissioner Lucy Asuagbor is the current Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women in
Africa, although at the time of the adoption of the resolution on the preparation of this report,
the mandate of Commissioner Soyata Maiga was still under way. The responsibilities of the
Commissioner’s mandate are also part of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the Rights
of Women in Africa: for more information on the mechanism and its mandate, please visit the
Committee’s website and visit the website. Mandate page at http://www.achpr.org/mechanisms/
rights-of-women/about/ (opened 26 February 2016).
2 Resolution 292 adopted at the 16th Extraordinary Session of the African Commission held
in Rwanda from 20 to 29 July 2014, available at http://www.achpr.org/sessions/16th-eo/
resolutions/292/ (accessed 26 February 2016).
3 UnitedNationsOfceoftheHighCommissioneronHumanRights,“Preventingandeliminating
child,earlyandforcedmarriage”(2014),availableathttp://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/
RegularSessions/Session26/Documents/A-HRC-26-22_en.doc(accessed26February2016).

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
10 A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA
marriage.4 Regionally, there have been a number of African mechanisms and
institutions that have recognised and taken steps to address the harmful impact
of child marriage.5 In May 2014, the African Union (AU) launched a campaign to
end child marriage in Africa, by enhancing continental awareness of its harmful
impacts and requiring states to take appropriate legal, social and economic
measures to address child marriage. Also in 2014, the AU appointed a Goodwill
Ambassador for Ending Child Marriage and the African Committee of Experts on
the Rights and Welfare of the Child (Committee) appointed a Special Rapporteur
4 In addition to those outlined in this report, the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC)
isintheprocessofdraftingamodellawonchildmarriage.InNovember2015,theHeadsof
State and African Governments, together with Ministers in Charge of Gender, Traditional Affairs
andChildren,FirstLadies,UNAgencies,DevelopmentPartners,CivilSocietyOrganizations,
young people, girls and young women who have experienced child marriage, traditional and
religious leaders gathered in Lusaka, Zambia for the First African Girls’ Summit on Ending Child
Marriage in Africa, hosted by the AU and the Government of the Republic of Zambia.
5 AfricanUnionCommonPositionontheCampaigntoEndChildMarriageinAfrica,adopted
bytheHeadsofStateandGovernmentsoftheAfricanUnioninJuly2015(availableathttp://
pages.au.int/sites/default/les/CAP%20on%20Ending%20Child%20Marriage%20-English_0.
pdf).
Alvise Forcellini

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA 11
on Child Marriage. In 2015, the Heads of State and Governments of the AU
announced that they had formally adopted an African common position on
the AU Campaign to End Child Marriage in Africa (the AU Common Position).6
This AU Common Position urges all member states of the AU to, among other
things, (i) develop national strategies and action plans aimed at ending child
marriage,7 (ii) enact and implement laws that set the legal minimum age for
marriage at 18 years of age or above, with no exceptions and applicable under all
legal systems 8 and (iii) implement all continental policies and legal instruments
relating to human rights, gender equality, maternal and child health, and harmful
traditional practices for the empowerment and participation of girls and women
in development.9
These global and regional declarations, reports and positions consistently
emphasise the adverse impact of child marriage and frame it as a hindrance to
human development and as a violation of human rights. Global and regional
opinion on child marriage is also consistent in recognising the disproportionately
adverse effect which child marriage has on girls. Girls who marry young tend to
have children younger and more frequently, which puts them at increased risk
of maternal morbidity and mortality and their children at risk of infant mortality.
Girls who marry young are more likely to drop out of school and this precludes
their full participation in economic, political and social endeavours. Africa has
the world’s highest proportion of young people to total population size, with
32% of the total population being between the ages of 10 and 24.10 Countries
with large populations of young people have enormous potential for economic
growth and social development but in order to realise that growth, the right
kinds of investments in human and social capital are needed. Child marriage is
not only a violation of human rights but also a significant hindrance to Africa’s
development.11 Its persistence on our continent has hindered Africa’s efforts to
achieve six of the eight Millennium Development Goals: to eliminate extreme
poverty, to achieve universal primary education, to promote gender equality, to
6 Commitment A1 and A3.
7 Commitment A5.
8 Commitment A4.
9 UNFPA“ThePowerof1.8Billion:Adolescents,YouthandtheTransformationoftheFuture”
(2014),p.115,availableathttp://www.unfpa.org/sites/default/les/pub-pdf/EN-SWOP14-
Report_FINAL-web.pdf(accessed26February2016).
10 Ibid.
11 GirlsNotBrides“ChildMarriageinAfrica:ABrief”availableatwww.girlsnotbrides.org/wp-
content/uploads/2015/02/Child-marriage-in-Africa-A-brief-by-Girls-Not-Brides.pdf (accessed 26
February 2016).

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
12 A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA
reduce child mortality, to improve maternal health, and to combat HIV/AIDS.12
Increasingly, child marriage is being viewed as a symptom of the profound
gender inequality that exists in Africa. In one sense, it is a manifestation of gender
inequality, which constitutes discrimination based on sex and gender. This is
reflected by the overwhelmingly disproportionate prevalence of child marriage
amongst girls. However, in another sense child marriage is a practice that
reinforces gender inequality and the social constructions that entrench patriarchy
and discrimination. Gender inequality lies at the root of child marriage and must
therefore shape our perspectives and inform our approaches to ending it.
1.2 Study objectives
This report examines the prevalence, causes and impacts of child marriage in
Africa. It sets out the legal frameworks that prohibit child marriage and describes
some of the circumstances that result in laws being ineffective in practice. Without
discounting the needs of children who are already married or adults who were
married as children, it outlines a selection of successful interventions and makes
recommendations towards the progressive elimination of child marriage in Africa.
The objective of this study is to provide an overview of child marriage in Africa,
focusing in particular on information about child marriage in the following ten
countries: Cameroon, the DRC, the Gambia, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania,
Mozambique, South Africa and Uganda. Specific objectives include identifying
the root causes, prevalence, practices, customs and beliefs that perpetuate child
marriage, assessing the level of compliance with international and regional
obligations requiring states to prevent child marriage and reporting on legislative
and policy frameworks and selected initiatives to address child marriage. This
study is intended to assist States Parties to the Maputo Protocol and other
stakeholders to strengthen implementation of the legal prohibitions on child
marriage, adopt appropriate strategies for eradicating child marriage and protect
the human rights of all children and especially girls.13
12 Resolution 292 adopted at the 16th Extraordinary Session of the African Commission held
in Rwanda from 20 to 29 July 2014, available at http://www.achpr.org/sessions/16th-eo/
resolutions/292/ (accessed 8 June 2015).
13 Resolution 292 adopted at the 16th Extraordinary Session of the African Commission held
in Rwanda from 20 to 29 July 2014, available at http://www.achpr.org/sessions/16th-eo/
resolutions/292/ (accessed 8 June 2015).

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA 13
Figure 1: Countries covered by the study
1.3 Methodology
In order to provide a detailed picture of child marriage in Africa, research was
conducted in ten countries across the region: Cameroon, the DRC, the Gambia,
Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, South Africa and Uganda. These
ten countries, which were specified in the resolution that prompted the study, are
amongst the countries with the highest prevalence rates of child marriage in the
world. Although not providing a continentally comprehensive view of the issue,
the study gives a general impression of trends, causes and interventions from across
the region. Countries from the North (Mauritania), West (the Gambia, Mali), Central
(Cameroon, DRC) East (Kenya, Uganda) and South (South Africa, Mozambique and
Malawi) of Africa have been included and on this basis, the selection is sufficiently
representative of the geography of our continent and its rich diversity of religious,
cultural, political, social and economic contexts.
Country researchers in each of the ten countries were asked to conduct desktop
research on child marriage from a human rights perspective in line with a standard
template attached as Annexure 1.14 The template required that researchers collect
information about prevalence, root causes, the status of international and regional
14 Research was conducted by the following 10 country researchers:Cameroon:HerminePatricia
Ndjandjo,DRC:PriscaNtabaza,Mauritania:SaleckOuldJeireb,Mozambique:Christina
Hunguana, Mali: Zoumana Fane, Malawi: Chisomo Kaufulu-Kumwenda, Uganda: Dorah Mafabi,
Kenya: Carole Osero-Ageng’o,SouthAfrica:YvonneOyiekeandinTheGambia:Satang
Nabaneh.
Mauritania
34% married by 18
14% married by 15
The Gambia
36% married by 18
7% married by 15
Cameroon
38% married by 18
13% married by 15
Democratic Republic
of the Congo
39% married by 18
13% married by 15
South Africa
6% married by 18
1% married by 15
Mali
55% married by 18
15% married by 15
Uganda
40% married by 18
10% married by 15
Kenya
26% married by 18
6% married by 15
Malawi
50% married by 18
12% married by 15
Mozambique
48% married by 18
14% married by 15

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
14 A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA
laws prohibiting child marriage in each country, the broader legal framework
including religious and customary law where relevant and any case law relating to
child marriage, policies and national action plans on child marriage, enforcement
and monitoring of the prohibition on child marriage in each country, information
on education laws and policies in each country and promising interventions which
support efforts aimed at ending child marriage. Where possible, researchers were
asked to corroborate their findings through key informant interviews with relevant
stakeholders. Relevant stakeholders with whom interviews were conducted
included policy makers, child and girls’ rights activists and experts within civil
society and international organisations and others deemed to be well placed to
inform the study. Country reports were then submitted to the Centre for Human
Rights (CHR) at the University of Pretoria for consolidation and analysis.
To validate the reports, a workshop was held in Pretoria in March 2014, and
each report was studied and adopted by participants. The CHR then studied the
reports to identify trends and themes and to prepare this consolidated report. The
consolidated report has been supplemented by additional desktop research on child
marriage and updated information as required.
Alvise Forcellini

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA 15
Except where otherwise stated, all references to particular countries in the
remainder of this report are drawn from these detailed country reports, which are
available on the website of the CHR.
1.4 Key terms and assumptions
In this report, the following terms find the following meanings:
•Child means a person under the age of 18 years, even if the laws of a
particular country set an earlier legal age for adulthood or allow for majority
to be attained at an earlier age.15 The term child includes both girls and boys.
•As contemplated in the Maputo Protocol, marriage implies a union between
a man and woman entered into with the free and full consent of both parties
and in which both parties enjoy equal rights. However, for purposes of this
report, the terms marriage and “union” shall mean any of the diverse forms
of interpersonal union, whether formal or informal and whether formalised
or recognised under any system of law, custom, society or religion, which
are established to form a familial bond. 16 This wide definition is deliberate
and is intended to include rather than exclude the significant proportion of
unions that are not legally constituted or recognised by the laws of a country
concerned.
•Free and full consent17 in the context of marriage entails non-coercive
agreement to the marriage with full understanding of the consequences of
giving consent. Consent is not free and full in circumstances where one of the
individuals involved is not sufficiently mature to make an informed decision
about a life partner. A child’s inability to give full and free consent cannot be
supplemented or cured with the addition of parental consent, as full consent
requires the complete consent by the person consenting.18
15 Thisdenitionhasbeenbasedonthedenitionscontainedinarticle1oftheUnitedNations
Convention on the Rights of the Child and article 2 of the African Children’s Charter. The African
Children’sCharterissilentonwhetherexceptionstothisdenitionarepermittedwhiletheUnited
NationsConventionontheRightsoftheChildexplicitlyprovidesthatthedenitionshallapply
except when the national laws of a particular country set the age of legal adulthood younger.
16 Thisdenitionofmarriageismuchwiderthandenitionprovidedby,forexample,theUnited
NationsEconomicandSocialAffairsbutwebelieveitnecessarytouseawidedenition
forpurposesofthisreport.SeeUnitedNationsEconomicandSocialAffairs“Principlesand
recommendations for a vital statistics system: Revision 2” (2001) 11 available at http://unstats.
un.org/unsd/publication/SeriesM/SeriesM_19rev2e.pdf (accessed 26 February 2016).
17 Article16(2)oftheUniversalDeclarationofHumanRightsandawidevarietyofother
international and regional human rights instruments.
18 Article16(2)oftheUniversalDeclarationofHumanRightsandtheUNConventiononConsent
toMarriage,MinimumAgeforMarriageandRegistrationofMarriages(1964)whichrequires
thatfreeandfullconsentisexpressedinthepresenceoftheauthoritycompetenttosolemnize
the marriage and of witnesses, and as prescribed by law.

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
16 A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA
•Childmarriage is a marriage in which at least one of the parties is or was
a child at the time of the marriage.19 The term child marriage is often used
interchangeably with the terms forced marriage and early marriage but in
this report, child marriage should be understood as distinct from forced or
early marriage.
•Forcedmarriage refers to a marriage in which either or both of the parties
have not personally expressed their full and free consent. Although
many child marriages are also forced marriages, forced marriages include
marriages that are not child marriages, such as where a widow is forced to
marry a relative of her deceased husband.
•Early marriage refers to a marriage in which even though one of the
parties to the marriage may not have reached the minimum marriageable
age, majority status will nevertheless be conferred at marriage through a
legal process of emancipation.20
There is a sense in which any child marriage is also a forced marriage, in that
children are not normally accorded the legal ability to give their full and free
consent to marriage. It is for this reason that the United Nations Convention on
the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) states
that the ‘betrothal and the marriage of a child shall have no legal effect.’21 This is
not to deny that children do exercise autonomy and may genuinely want to enter
into marriages of their own accord, nor to deny that there are differing degrees
of social and family pressure to marry, not all of which should necessarily be
characterised as coercive. Nevertheless, it is a premise of this report that child
marriage is legally problematic and is both a cause and consequence of various
social ills.
Although boys are sometimes married as children, this is comparatively less
common22 and for that reason, this report focuses predominantly on the marriage
of girls.
19 Article16(1)oftheUniversalDeclarationofHumanRightsstipulatesthatonlymenandwomen
of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have a right to marry and to
found a family.
20 ReportoftheOfceoftheUnitedNationsHighCommissionerforHumanRights,2014
“PreventingandEliminatingEarly,ChildandForcedMarriages”atpage3.
21 Article 16, paragraph 2, available at http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/text/
econvention.htm (accessed 11 June 2015).
22 NOtoo-Oyortey&SPobi(2003)‘Earlymarriageandpoverty: exploring links and key policy
issues’ in C Sweetman (ed.) Gender, Development and Marriage.

CHAPTER 2: CONTEXT AND
CAUSES

A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA 19
CHAPTER 2: CONTEXT AND CAUSES
2.1 Prevalence of child marriage in Africa
2.1.1 Overview
The overall prevalence of child marriage in Africa is higher than the global average
and if current trends continue, Africa will become the region with the largest
number and global share of child marriages by 2050.1 Although child marriage is
prevalent across Africa, prevalence is greatest in West and Central Africa where
it is estimated that four out of ten women aged 20 to 24 were married before
age 18.2 In some individual countries, the reported prevalence is even higher.
For instance, Mali, which is one of the countries under study, reported a child
marriage prevalence rate of 71% in 2006 and 55% in 2010.
Although trends have shown a slow and uneven decline in the overall
prevalence of child marriage in Africa, the continent is home to a young and rapidly
growing population and without economic growth and social development and
increased efforts to end child marriage, the number of girls married by age 18 is
expected to rise.3 This trend is most pronounced amongst poorer households and
in rural areas, where child marriage is twice as prevalent as in urban areas and
showing little sign of decline.4 Overwhelmingly, statistics show that although
boys are sometimes married as children, child marriage affects girls in far greater
numbers.
There are several methods for calculating and reporting on the prevalence
of child marriage. In some instances, prevalence is measured according to the
number of adolescents aged between 15 and 19 who are currently in a marriage
or union. One weakness of this statistic is that it includes 18 and 19 year olds who
are no longer children under the international definition. It also fails to count
1 UNICEF,2015.AProleofChildMarriageinAfrica.Availableat:http://www.unicef.org/wcaro/
english/UNICEF-Child-Marriage-Brochure-low-Single(1).pdf.
2 UNICEF,2015‘AProleofChildMarriageinAfrica’availableathttp://data.unicef.org/corecode/
uploads/document6/uploaded_pdfs/corecode/UNICEF-Child-Marriage-Brochure-High-
Single_246.pdf (accessed 26 January 2016).
3 UNICEF,2015‘AProleofChildMarriageinAfrica’availableathttp://data.unicef.org/corecode/
uploads/document6/uploaded_pdfs/corecode/UNICEF-Child-Marriage-Brochure-High-
Single_246.pdf (accessed 26 January 2016).
4 UNICEF,2015.AProleofChildMarriageinAfrica.Availableat:http://www.unicef.org/wcaro/
english/UNICEF-Child-Marriage-Brochure-low-Single(1).pdf.

CHAPTER 2 CONTEXT AND CAUSES
20 A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA
younger children who may go on to be married before they are 18.5 Therefore,
unless otherwise stated, in this report prevalence statistics will be measured
retrospectively, by counting the proportion of women aged 20 - 24 who were
married before the age of 18 relative to the total number of women aged 20 -
24. Although surveying older cohorts of women would capture the prevalence
of child marriage at earlier periods, these statistics may be less reliable as some
women may die or move away from the study area.
Reliable statistics on child marriage can be difficult to produce because of
the unregistered nature of many child marriages that occur and also because
of inadequate birth registration systems that can make it difficult to account
for the age of parties to a marriage. In addition, although prevalence rates are
an important measure for tracking progress towards the elimination of child
marriage, it is important to remember that prevalence rates generally only provide
average estimates which do not describe the variability of prevalence between
regions or cohorts within a country. Data on the prevalence of child marriage is
typically produced from the results of national surveys which collect data on the
age at first marriage, most notably the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS)
and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS). This data is then extrapolated
to be representative of the broader population. In some cases, this data is also
processed to disaggregate for regional, age and other variance.
In 2014, UNICEF compiled a global database of statistics on the prevalence of
child marriage, based on DHS, MICS and other nationally representative surveys.
Trend forecasts based on the data collected suggest that unless efforts to end child
marriage are scaled up significantly, the impact of population growth will mean
that prevalence rates will stay roughly the same. 6 Current global prevalence of
child marriage is indicated in the table below, showing variance in prevalence by
country.
5 Seechapter2ofthe2012reportbyUNFPA“MarryingTooYoung”availableathttp://www.unfpa.
org/sites/default/les/pub-pdf/MarryingTooYoung.pdf (accessed 10 June 2015).
6 UNFPA“MarryingTooYoung”(2012),availableathttp://www.unfpa.org/sites/default/les/pub-
pdf/MarryingTooYoung.pdf(accessed10June2015).

CHAPTER 2 CONTEXT AND CAUSES
A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA 21
Figure 2: Global child marriage prevalence
Percentage of women 20-24 years old who were married or in union by age 18, 2000-2011
Source: UNFPA database using DHS, MICS and other household surveys.
2.1.2 Prevalence by country
The prevalence of child marriage in Africa varies by country and by region of
any given country. An overview of variation by country and by setting in the
countries studied is provided below.
• InCameroon, DHS data from 2011 indicate that 13.4% of women aged 20 to
24 reported being married by the age of 15 and 38.4% by the age of 18.7 Child
marriage is prevalent in the north, in the east, in the northwest and in the
southwest.8
• IntheDemocratic Republic of Congo (DRC), MICS data from 2010 suggest that
39% of women aged 20 to 24 were married before 18, and 9% were married before
the age of 15.9 There has been an increase in the prevalence of child marriage
since 2007 and projections suggest that this trend will continue in the coming
years. Prevalence is highest in the Katanga (50%) and Orientale (50%) regions.10
• Inthe Gambia, 36% of women aged 20 to 24 reported having married before
the age of 18 and 7% reported having married before the age of 15, based on
7 UNICEF2015basedontheDemographicHealthSurveyforRepubliqueduCameroun
published in 2011. Data available at https://data.unicef.org/topic/child-protection/child-marriage/
(accessed 11 June 2015).
8 CameroonsubmissiontoCHR.
9 UNICEF 2015 (n 7 above) based on MICS data for the DRC published in 2010.
10 UNFPA,“ChildMarriageCountryprole:DemocraticRepublicoftheCongo”(2012),available
athttp://www.devinfo.info/mdg5b/proles/les/proles/4/Child_Marriage_Country_Prole_
AFRCOD_Democratic%20Republic%20of%20the%20Congo.pdf(accessed11June2015).

CHAPTER 2 CONTEXT AND CAUSES
22 A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA
data from a MICS survey published in 2010.11 Prevalence rates are highest in
Basse (66%) and Kuntaur (61%) regions.12
• In Kenya the prevalence rate for women aged 20 to 24 who were married
before the age of 15 is 6% and the prevalence of women aged 20 to 24 who
were married before the age of 18 is 26%.13 These statistics are taken from a
DHS survey conducted in Kenya in 2008/2009, which also indicates that there
has been a shift in early entry into marriages over time, with the proportion
of women marrying by age 15 having declined over the past 20 to 30 years.
Statistics on the median age at first marriage in Kenya indicate clearly
that urban women tend to marry almost three years later than their rural
counterparts.14 Differences in child marriage prevalence rates by province of
residence are pronounced: the Kilifi region recorded the highest prevalence of
child marriage at 48% with Homa Bay recording 39%, Kwale 38%, Bondo 30%
and Tharaka at 25%.15
• InMalawi, statistics from a 2010 DHS survey indicate that 50% of women aged
20 to 24 were married before age 18 and 12% of women aged 20 to 24 were
married before the age of 15.16 A comparison with results from the 2000 and
2004 DHS surveys for Malawi indicate an increase in the prevalence of child
marriage. While statistics from the DHS survey published in 2000 indicate that
47% of women aged 20 to 24 were married by age 1817 this figure rose to 49%
in 2004.18 The percentage of women aged 20 to 24 who were married by age 15
has also increased, from 11% in 2004 to 12% in 2010.19 Prevalence is highest in
central Malawi (57%) and lowest in the South (44%).
11 ReportoftheOfceoftheUnitedNationsHighCommissionerforHumanRights,2014
“PreventingandEliminatingEarly,ChildandForcedMarriages”,basedonMICSdataforthe
Gambia published in 2010.
12 UNICEF 2015 (n 7 above) based on MICS data for the Gambia published in 2010.
13 KenyaNationalBureauofStatistics,“KenyaDemographicandHealthSurvey2008/2009”,available
at http://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/fr229/fr229.pdf (accessed 11 June 2015) at pages 82 and 83.
14 Ibid.
15 BecauseIamaGirl(BIAAG),“KenyaCountryReport2012:StudyoftheFactorsInuencing
GirlsAccessRetentionandCompletionofPrimaryandSecondaryEducation”,p6,available
athttp://www.plcc-nairobi.org/xist4c/download/web/Because-I-am-a-girl--Kenya-Country-
Report-2012_uplId_16867_coId_5580_.pdf.(Accessed11June2015).
16 UNICEF2015(n7above)basedondateobtainedfroma2010DHSsurveyforMalawi
17 2000MalawianDHSavailableathttp://www.dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR123/FR123.pdf page
78 (accessed 26 January 2016).
18 MalawiDHS2004atpage97availableathttps://www.dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR175/FR-
175-MW04.pdf (accessed 26 January 2016).
19 Ibid.

CHAPTER 2 CONTEXT AND CAUSES
A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA 23
• Mali has one of the highest child marriage prevalence rates in the world, with
an estimated 55% of girls being married before they turn 18 and 15% being
married before they turn 15.20 Although common throughout the country,
child marriage rates are highest in the Kayes region (87%), followed by Kidal
(84%) and Koulikoro (78%). The prevalence of child marriage in Mali has
declined since 2006, when it was at 71%.
• InMauritania it is estimated that just 2% of child marriages are registered by
the civil status office. As at 2011, an estimated 34% of women aged 20 to 24
were married before the age of 18 and 14% before the age of 15.21 Prevalence
is highest in the Hodh Charghi (55%) and Gorgol (50%) regions.22
• Mozambique has a higher prevalence of child marriage than the rest of sub-
Saharan Africa, with 48% of women aged between 20 and 24 years estimated
to be married before they are 18 and 14% before they are 15.23 There has been
a slow decline in the prevalence of child marriage in Mozambique since 2003
when it stood at 56% in respect of marriages concluded before age 18 and
20 UNICEF 2015 (n 7 above) and based on a 2010 MICS survey conducted in Mali.
21 UNICEF 2015 (n 7 above) and based on a 2011 MICS survey conducted in Mauritania.
22 UNICEF“CountryProleonMauritania:Maternal,New-bornandChildSurvival”(2012),
availableathttp://www.childinfo.org/les/maternal/DI%20Prole%20-%20Mauritania.pdf
(accessed 11 June 2015).
23 UNICEF2015(n7above)andbasedona2011DHSsurveyforMozambique.
WorldFish/Peter Fredenburg

CHAPTER 2 CONTEXT AND CAUSES
24 A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA
18% for marriages before age 15.24 However, Mozambique’s child marriage
prevalence rate still ranks as the seventh highest rate in the world. Prevalence
is highest in Cabo Delgado (68%), Manica (64%) and Zambezia (62%).25
• Theprevalenceof childmarriageinSouth Africa is relatively low, although
reliable statistics have not been reported since 2003. A DHS survey from
2003 indicates that 0.8% of girls in South Africa between the ages of 20 and
24 married before the age of 15 and 5.6% before the age of 1826 South Africa
is unusual in that child marriage manifests itself mainly in the traditional
practice of ukuthwala (bride abduction), which is practiced predominantly in
rural areas of the Eastern Cape and Kwa-Zulu Natal. 27
• InUganda, 40% of women aged 20 to 24 reported being married before the
age of 18 and 10% before the age of 15, according to results of a DHS survey
published in 2011.28 This reflects a decrease in prevalence rates since 2006,
when 46% of women aged 20 to 24 reported being marriage before age 18 and
12% of the same cohort reporting having married by age 15.29 Child marriage
is practiced across Uganda but is disproportionally prevalent in Ndagwe,
Lwengo30 and in the Acholi, Lango, Sabiny and Karamoja regions.31
24 Compareresultsfromthe2003DHSsurveypage92availableathttp://dhsprogram.com/pubs/
pdf/FR161/FR161.pdf (accessed 26 January 2016).
25 MozambicanNationalStatisticsInstitute‘MultipleIndicatorsClusterSurvey’(2008).
26 DepartmentofHealth,RepublicofSouthAfrica“SouthAfricaDemographicandHealthSurvey”
(2003), p. 32, available at http://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR206/FR206.pdf (accessed 11 June
2015). This data is roughly consistent with data published by UNICEF suggesting that in 2012,
1%ofgirlsweremarriagebeforetheageof15and6%ofgirlsweremarriedbeforetheywere
18. See UNICEF South Africa Report 2012 (2013).
27 SouthAfricanLawReformCommission‘Project138-Thepracticeofukuthwala’ Discussion
paper 132 (2014) 16 available at http://www.justice.gov.za/salrc/dpapers/dp132-Ukutwala.pdf
(accessed 11 February 2016).
28 UNICEF2015(n7above),basedona2011DHSsurveyconductedinUganda,pages51,52
and 53 available at https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR264/FR264.pdf (accessed 26 January
2016).
29 2006UgandanDHSonpage88availableathttp://www.dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR194/
FR194.pdf (accessed 26 January 2016).
30 Interview with Community Transformation Foundation Network, 24 January 2014.
31 ChildProtectioninCrisisNetworkforResearch“LearningandAction:Mappingcommunity
based child protection mechanisms in Nebbi and Arua districts” (2012) 2-39 available at http://
www.cpcnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/CBCPM-Mapping_Uganda_Report-3.pdf
(accessed 09 June 2015).

CHAPTER 2 CONTEXT AND CAUSES
A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA 25
Figure 3: Prevalence of child marriage in the ten countries studied
2.2 Causes of child marriage in Africa
Any account of the causes of child marriage must acknowledge that many factors
are interrelated, and that many factors are both a cause and consequence of child
marriage. For instance, family poverty places girls at risk of child marriage, but
being married young also tends to limit educational and economic opportunity
for girls, which in turn perpetuates poverty. This section provides an overview
of how various factors tend to result in child marriage in Africa, focusing on
examples from the particular countries studied for this report.
2.2.1 Gender inequality
Child marriage is overwhelmingly a phenomenon of younger girls being married
to older men. As such, none of the other social, cultural and economic factors of
child marriage can be understood without reference to the inferior status accorded
to girls and women in all the societies under consideration. Gender inequality is
a cause, a result and an exacerbating factor of child marriage.
Africa is an enormously diverse continent, with substantial variation in
the cultural beliefs and practices often apparent even in very small areas. It is
therefore a grave fallacy to speak of any single ‘African’ culture. Nevertheless,
Mauritania
14% of girls are married by age 15
and 34% are married by age 18
The Gambia
7% of girls are married by age 15
and 36% are married by age 18
DRC
9% of girls are married by age 15
and 39% are married by age 18
South Africa
1% of girls are married by age 15
and 7% are married by age 18
Mali
Mali has one of the highest child
marriage prevalense rates in the world
15% of girls are married by age 15 and
55% are married by age 18
Cameroon
13,4% of girls are married by age 15
and 38,4% are married by age 18
Uganda
10% of girls are married by age 15
and 40% are married by age 18
Kenya
6% of girls are married by age 15
and 26% are married by age 18
Malawi
12% of girls are married by age 15
and 50% are married by age 18
Prevalence is highest in central Malawi
(57%) and lowest in the south (44%)
Mozambique
14% of girls are married by age 15 and
48% are married by age 18
Mozambique has a higher prevalence
of child marriage than the rest of sub
Saharan Africa

CHAPTER 2 CONTEXT AND CAUSES
26 A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA
many groups believe in strongly differentiated gender roles and family relations
between men and women that tend to disadvantage women. These beliefs may
have origins in traditional practices, in colonial-era laws and customs, and in the
two most widespread religions in the region, Islam and Christianity.
Discriminatory formal and informal laws, social norms and cultural and
religious practices directly and indirectly influence women’s social and economic
roles, making girls more vulnerable to child marriage than boys. In many
societies, women are excluded from decisions about themselves, their families
and the community. Control of land and property, together with formal family
headship, typically pass through the male line. Accordingly, greater social value
is generally ascribed to boys, resulting in the underinvestment of girls’ health,
education and development. These social inequalities systematically render girls
subservient and vulnerable and put them at risk of child marriage and other
social harms.
2.2.2 Cultural and religious norms that promote or perpetuate child marriage
In many of the countries studied, patriarchal attitudes towards women and girls
Tobin Jones

CHAPTER 2 CONTEXT AND CAUSES
A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA 27
perpetuated by cultural and religious norms not only render girls more vulnerable
to child marriage, but also may actively promote it.
In several countries with longstanding Islamic populations, local traditions
interpret Islamic scripture as permitting and in some instances even encouraging
child marriage. This is a key reason why the prevalence of child marriage is high
in countries with relatively large Islamic populations across the region. In these
countries, influential religious leaders sometimes explicitly support the practice of
child marriage and voice strong opposition to campaigns against it. The Gambia,
for example, has a large Muslim majority, at 95% of the population and in the same
country, child marriage is not regarded by society at large as wrong or against the
best interests of the child. A number of community members reportedly believe
that child marriage is a positive part of life and tradition and prepares girls for
life. These same community members also tend to prescribe particular roles for
women and girls, with an emphasis on childbearing and housekeeping. Child
marriage is also common in Mali and in Mauritania, where it is supported by local
interpretations of Islamic scripture.
In Cameroon, although Islam is only practiced by around 20% of the
population, child marriage is widely considered by practising Muslim
Cameroonians to be consistent with the Quran. A local interpretation of religious
texts reportedly states that a girl should have her first menstruation under
her in-laws’ roof. The practice of child marriage is so deeply rooted in some
parts of Cameroon that one local Islamic religious leader has said that even if it
means confronting the law, he cannot go against the religious book. Similarly, in
Malawi’s Mangochi district, where Islam is prevalent, the incidence of arranged
marriages for girls as young as 12 years old have been reported. Some rural
Islamists regard these marriages as being consistent with their beliefs. Muslims
in the Sabiny region of Uganda are similarly encouraged to marry their young
daughters to fellow Muslims, and marriage is itself considered a rite of passage
bringing girls to womanhood.
In addition to the sway of religious beliefs that perpetuate child marriage,
the practice is often culturally accepted as a means of controlling the sexuality of
girls. For instance, in the Kivu region of the DRC, great importance is placed on a
girl’s virginity before marriage. After the wedding day (whether a traditional or
civil marriage), a groom’s family is supposed to give a gift to the bride’s mother
if she is a virgin. The absence of a gift is a grave dishonour, and a sign that the
mother did not raise her daughter properly. Hence, the sooner a girl is married,
the higher the chances of getting a gift and the lower the chances that dishonour
will befall the family. Similarly, if an unmarried teenager becomes pregnant, she
may be forced or pressured into a marriage to prevent rejection by her family or

CHAPTER 2 CONTEXT AND CAUSES
28 A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA
the community. This occurs even in instances where girls do not want to marry,
and sometimes even if pregnancy is the result of rape.
In Uganda, child marriage is seen to delay the onset of sexual activity of girls
and prevent unintended pregnancy and pregnancy outside of wedlock. In Kenya,
Uganda and in the Gambia, child marriage is commonly perceived to offer some
form of child protection in that it prevents girls from being propelled into sex work.
The nomadic Samburu community of Kenya, for example, encourages girls to
marry at an early age on the basis that marriage will prevent them from becoming
sex workers. In many of these communities if a girl is not married by age 15 she is
considered flawed, and outcast under the perception that she will bring bad luck
to her family.
The sexual control of girls and child marriage are also connected via the practice
of female genital mutilation (FGM). Among the Sabiny and Karamojong populations
of eastern and north-eastern Uganda, FGM is conducted as a rite of passage into
adulthood, sometimes from as early as 12 years of age. This rite of passage qualifies
girls to sit with elders, is regarded an important mark of adulthood and signifies
readiness for marriage. Very similar customs are also practiced by some of the
Maasai people in Kenya.
Patriarchal customary laws and traditions in Uganda give women and girls
diminished negotiating power in marriage and in issues relating to their sexual
and reproductive health. This is another manifestation of gender inequality, which
renders women and girls second-class citizens, and denies them the power to make
decisions about their futures. Marriage is viewed in some communities as a rite of
passage and a girl’s moment to fulfil her role in life. Equally, women and girls are
sometimes viewed as property and may be used to consolidate family ties or settle
feuds.
The practice of ukuthwala in South Africa involves the kidnapping of a girl or
young woman by a man and his friends or peers with the intention of compelling
the girl or young woman’s family to approve marriage negotiations.32 In some cases
and in older forms of this tradition, the kidnapping is purely ritualistic, in that the
girl and her abductor are of similar ages and are in a consensual relationship, but
have been unable to secure the approval of the girl’s parents by normal means. In
most contemporary cases however, it appears that the practice involves genuine
non-consensual abduction and forced marriage. Both police and traditional leaders
32 DepartmentofJusticeandConstitutionalDevelopment‘Ukuthwala:Let’sprotectourchildren’
(2009) available at http://www.justice.gov.za/docs/articles/2009_ukuthwala-kidnapping-girls.html
ascitedbySouthAfricasubmissiontoCHR.

CHAPTER 2 CONTEXT AND CAUSES
A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA 29
in affected areas have shown reluctance to act against the practice.33
2.2.3 Poverty
Poverty is a major cause of child marriage and is also a factor that worsens its
impact and the consequences of being married at an early age. 34 Poverty is linked
to a number of other factors that are strongly associated with child marriage,
including lack of access to education and inadequate birth and marriage
registration systems that are discussed below. It is a repeated pattern that child
33 NombonisoGasaasquotedbyRDavis‘Whencultureandpolicingcollide:circumcisiondeaths
and ukuthwala’ The Daily Maverick, 11 October 2013, available at http://www.dailymaverick.
co.za/article/2013-10-11-when-culture-and-policing-collide-circumcision-deaths-and-ukuthwala-
unpunished-crimes/(accessed12March2014)ascitedintheSouthAfricasubmissiontoCHR.
34 HumanRightsWatch,2013‘ThisOldManCanFeedUs,YouMustMarryHim:childand
forcedmarriageinSouthSudan’availableathttps://www.hrw.org/sites/default/les/reports/
southSudan0313_forinsertWebVersion_0.pdf(accessed26January2016).See also Caroline
Harper; Nicola Jones;ElizabethPresler-Marshall;David Walker,2014‘UnhappilyEver
After:slowandunevenprogressintheghtagainstearlymarriage’publishedtheOverseas
Development International and available at http://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/les/odi-assets/
publications-opinion-les/9088.pdf (accessed 26 January 2016).See also International Centre
forResearchonWomen,2006.‘ChildMarriageandPovertyFactSheet’availableathttp://www.
icrw.org/les/images/Child-Marriage-Fact-Sheet-Poverty.pdf (accessed 26 January 2016).
Huard

CHAPTER 2 CONTEXT AND CAUSES
30 A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA
marriage tends to be more prevalent in poorer countries and among the poorest
sections of any given country.35 It has also been established that countries with
low Gross Domestic Product have a higher prevalence of child marriage.36 In Mali
and Mozambique, two countries in which roughly half of girls are married before
18, at least three quarters of the population live on less than $2 a day.37
The correlation between poverty and child marriage is also evident at the level
of sub-national regions, as the regions with high prevalence listed in the previous
section are overwhelmingly also the poorest and/or most rural regions of respective
countries. For instance, in Mozambique, the prevalence of child marriage is 56.4%
in rural areas against 42.4% in urban areas. In DRC, the prevalence is 50% in rural
Katanga and Province Orientale against only 18% in urban Kinshasa. The practice
of ukuthwala in South Africa is only found in rural areas.
This correlation is also evident at the household level, with girls from poorer
families being more likely to be married as children. For instance, in the Gambia,
poverty and low levels of education are consistently correlated with high rates of
child marriage. Children from the poorest Gambian households are more likely
to be married before 18 years of age (with a prevalence rate of 62.7%) than those
from richer household (with a prevalence of 28.7%).38
The mechanism through which poverty promotes child marriage is by
exacerbating the vulnerabilities of children and the economic burden of parents to
care for them. Economic difficulties can make child marriage seem like an attractive
option for parents and possibly even for children themselves. For example,
post conflict economic instability in the DRC prevented women from accessing
resources, basic services and power and this in turn resulted in the feminization
of poverty and in widespread gender discrimination in all areas of development.
Findings from several countries studied suggest that teenage girls are sometimes
forced to marry older men to ensure the economic prospects of their families and
their brothers’ education. In this way, although the whole family is affected by
35 CherylThomas,2009.‘ForcedandEarlyMarriage:aFocusonCentralandEasternEurope
and Former Soviet Union Countries with Selected Laws from Other Countries’ prepared for
Expert Group Meeting on good practices in legislation to address harmful practices against
women in Ethiopia, 2009 at page 3. Available at http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/egm/vaw_
legislation_2009/Expert%20Paper%20EGMGPLHP%20_Cheryl%20Thomas%20revised_.pdf.
(accessed 26 January 2016).
36 InternationalCentreforResearchonWomen,2006FactSheetonChildMarriageandPoverty
available at http://www.icrw.org/les/images/Child-Marriage-Fact-Sheet-Poverty.pdf (accessed
26 February 2016).
37 InternationalCentreforResearchonWomen,2006FactSheetonChildMarriageandPoverty
available at http://www.icrw.org/les/images/Child-Marriage-Fact-Sheet-Poverty.pdf (accessed
26 February 2016).
38 UNICEF,“TheGambiaMultipleIndicatorClusterSurvey2010(MICSIV)”,availableathttp://
mics.unicef.org/surveys (accessed 11 June 2015).

CHAPTER 2 CONTEXT AND CAUSES
A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA 31
poverty, the impact falls disproportionately on girls and women.
In the Gambia, it has been reported that girls as young as 13 years are
married off by parents who have large families in order to conserve household
resources. Similarly, among the Maasai in Kenya, giving a daughter in marriage
is often viewed as a means to reduce family expenses by ensuring that there is
one less person to feed, clothe and educate. This understanding of girls as an
economic burden is in part self-reinforcing: parents are often reluctant to invest
in educating daughters because they expect that they will be married before
they are able to generate income, and so education will only add to the wealth
of their husbands’ families. Girls in South Africa who have been forced into
marriages through ukuthwala report being pressured by their families to remain
in marriages because of the financial strain of providing for the sustenance and
schooling of the girl.39
Similarly, in the context of Mozambique, Osório40 argues that girls are
sometimes viewed primarily as an economic resource. They are denied basic
material benefits such as education, health and food to avoid costs to their family.
When they attain their adolescence they are exchanged for their families’ gain, in
the form of a dowry payment. For the men who take them as wives, the gain is in
the form of the labour they provide and of the children they give birth to.
Child marriage is not only a means for preserving existing economic resources,
but may be a means for economic and social advancement. In Cameroon and
Mali, it is reported that poor parents sometimes specifically seek out well-off men
in order to provide their daughters a way out of destitution. In rural as well as in
urban areas of Mali, almost three quarters of the men who married a child bride
were financially well off relative to other members of Malian society.
In many parts of Africa, the family of the bride receives a bride price or
dowry in the form of livestock, money or other commodities over the course of a
marriage proceeding. In communities where economic transactions are integral
to the marriage process, dowry or bride price negotiations can become a strategy
for the financial survival of poor families.41 In South Africa, ukuthwala typically
results in customary marriages that involve the payment of bride price or lobola
to the abducted girl’s family. This gives an incentive to impoverished families to
39 LegalResourcesCentre(2013)“Submissionsmadeinrespectofchild,earlyandforced
marriage”. Available http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Women/WRGS/ForcedMarriage/
NGO/LegalResourceCentre.pdf (accessed 14 September 2015).
40 COsório‘Direitoshumanos,direitoshumanosdasmulheres’inXAndradeetal.(eds)Direitos
humanos das mulheres em quatro tópicos (2000).
41 Hague,ThiaraandMIFUMI,“BridePrice,PovertyandDomesticViolenceinUganda”
(2009), available at http://www.bristol.ac.uk/sps/research/projects/completed/2009/rg2292/
rg2292nalreport.doc(accessed12June2015).

CHAPTER 2 CONTEXT AND CAUSES
32 A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA
comply with an abductor’s wish to marry their daughters.
Poverty also plays a role in making children vulnerable to transactional
relationships, which in some cases lead to child marriage. In Uganda, South Africa
and Kenya the phenomenon of ‘sugar daddies’ is reported, where older men
seek sex from children and adolescents in exchange for money or other goods. In
some instances, parents encourage transactional sex and relationships in order to
secure resources for the family, even though these relationships frequently lead
to child marriage and premarital pregnancy.
2.2.4 Lack of access to education
Education empowers girls to be economically and socially independent and
therefore reduces their vulnerability to child marriage. This explains why rates
of child marriage are highest in countries with lower education and why there is
a consistent correlation between lack of access to education and child marriage
within countries. It also explains why educating adolescent girls has been an
important factor in the increases in the age of marriage observed across the
region thus far.42
Although levels of education are low for boys and girls in many countries
across the region, socio-cultural factors hinder access to education for girls in
particular. This is an area where several risk factors come together. If education
is costly, either directly or because it prevents a child from contributing to the
household economy, a family in poverty may decide to educate only some of its
children. In this case, a cultural understanding that boys represent the family
line means that they will be favoured for educational opportunities over girls.
For example, although Mozambique has a relatively low overall literacy rate, at
56.1%, there is also considerable gender disparity, with only 42.8% of women
who are literate, compared with 70.8% of men.43 In Mozambique, lack of access to
education is directly correlated with child marriage: 57.2% of women who never
went to school reported being married by age 18 while only 20.6% of women with
secondary education reported the same.
In Kenya, Mali and Mauritania levels of education are still very low,
especially among girls. Several factors have been identified as barriers to girls’
access to education. These include socio-economic factors, such as poverty and
a lack of access to adequate and appropriate resources, including infrastructure.
42 UNICEF‘Endingchildmarriage:Progressandprospects’(2013)availableathttp://data.unicef.
org/corecode/uploads/document6/uploaded_pdfs/corecode/Child-Marriage-Brochure-7_17-
HR_164.pdf(accessed15October2014).
43 IndexMundi,availableatwww.indexmundi.com/pt/mocambique/taxa_de_alfabetizacao.html
(accessed 30 March 2014).

CHAPTER 2 CONTEXT AND CAUSES
A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA 33
Institutional factors, including the lack of gender responsive budgets, gender
imbalances among teachers and the lack of teacher training on gender equality
also affect girls’ access to education.
In Uganda, low educational attainment is sometimes quite explicitly linked
to child marriage, setting precedents that repeat over generations. For instance,
in the Sabiny region of Uganda, girls who consistently perform poorly at school
are given away in marriage. Educational attainment for women is also strongly
correlated with household income, with women living in richer households
being more than two times more likely to be literate (65.8%) as compared with
those from poorer households (26.9%).
Cultural ideas that position women and girls as responsible for care work can
also be a barrier to girls’ education, and reports from South Africa suggest girls
have been pulled out of school to care for sick family members, especially in the
context of the HIV/AIDS pandemic.44
44 UnitedNationsGirls’EducationInitiative(2010)“GenderReviewinSouthAfrica
based Education: Final Report”. Available: http://www.ungei.org/paris2011/docs/
GenderReviewFinalReportRevisedNov23.pdf.
Tobin Jones

CHAPTER 2 CONTEXT AND CAUSES
34 A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA
2.2.5 Legal frameworks
There are features of the legal systems prevailing across the region that allow and even
promote child marriage. In this section, the term legal framework is used in a wider
sense, and refers to codes and other non-statutory frameworks that contribute to the
persistence of child marriage. Although statutory laws are a part of the legal system,
domestic statutory laws relating to child marriage are discussed in the section below.
One feature common to the countries under study is that they have plural
legal systems. Usually, a common or civil law system influenced by European
law operates alongside one or more traditional, religious or customary legal
systems that may or may not be constitutionally recognised but are nevertheless
observed. The existence of at least two forms of law makes it difficult to determine
which law prevails and, because almost all religious and customary systems seek
to regulate matters involving the family, these difficulties arise frequently in the
context of child marriage. For example, no fewer than four types of marriage
are legally recognised in the Gambia, Mali and Mauritania: Christian, Muslim,
customary and civil. Because many versions of customary and Sharia law tolerate
Tobin Jones

CHAPTER 2 CONTEXT AND CAUSES
A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA 35
child marriage, the legal status of such marriages in these countries is unclear.
Legal uncertainty around child marriage is also caused by ambiguity as to the
status of two different and conflicting laws within the same statutory legal system.
For example, while one part of a country’s civil law might set the minimum age
for marriage at 18, another part of the same civil law might recognise certain
exceptions. For example, in Malawi while the new Marriage, Divorce and Family
Relations Act establishes 18 as the minimum age for marriage, the constitution of
Malawi still allows children aged between 15 and 18 to marry with the consent of
their parents, giving rise to some degree of legal uncertainty.
The continuing prevalence of child marriage across the continent illustrates
the difficulties of bringing actual practice into conformity with ‘top-down’ legal
frameworks like national constitutions and international treaties. For instance, the
Gambian state has put in place legislative and policy frameworks for the promotion
and protection of the rights of children. The Gambia has also harmonised its
legislation with child related international legal instruments that it has ratified.
However, gaps remain in the effective implementation and enforcement of these
laws and policies and there remains legal ambiguity on child marriage, with the
result that they are carried out with impunity.
In South Africa, while customary law is recognised as binding by the state and
courts, it is formally subordinate to the national constitution and some customary
marriage practices have been ruled unlawful on the grounds of incompatibility with
the constitution. Nevertheless, with the consent of a legal guardian, a child between
the ages of 12 and 18 can legally be married, despite South Africa’s assent to binding
instruments that prohibit child marriage. The result is that traditional forms of child
marriage continue to be practiced, often accompanied by severe social stigma that
attaches to girls who refuse marriage or attempt to leave a marriage.
In Malawi, there has been confusion over the legal minimum age for marriage.
Section 22(8) of the constitution of Malawi discourages marriage between persons
where either one of them is under 15. However, persons between the ages of 15 and
18 may nevertheless enter into a marriage provided they obtain parental consent.45
However, in terns of a new Marriage, Divorce and Family Relations Act, it is provided
that subject to section 22 of the constitution, two persons of the opposite sex who are
both not below the age of 18 and are of sound mind may enter into a marriage with
one another. Unless the courts apply a generous and progressive interpretation to
the constitution, this discrepancy in the law may give rise to legal uncertainty and
problematic enforcement. Although the Marriage, Divorce and Family Relations Act
is widely considered to be a victory, harmonisation with the constitution may be
45 Section 22(7), Constitution of the Malawi.

CHAPTER 2 CONTEXT AND CAUSES
36 A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA
required to ensure maximum impact of the prohibition against child marriages.
2.2.6 Inadequacy of registration procedures
The lack of adequate registration procedures for birth and marriage in some
African countries, particularly in rural areas, is a significant impediment to
the prohibition of child marriage. Despite the requirement in Article 6(d) of
the Maputo Protocol that all marriages ‘shall be registered,’ unrecorded and
unregistered marriages are common throughout Africa.46
There are a number of reasons why marriages in Africa are not recorded or
registered. In at least 6 countries in Africa, domestic laws simply do not stipulate
requirements or procedures for the compulsory registration of all forms of
marriage.47 There is a particular scarcity of laws regulating the registration of
marriages conducted in terms of religious and customary law. In plural legal contexts,
marriage registries and registration processes tend to differ according to the form
of marriage. Different types of marriage are often regulated under separate laws
that are commonly unconnected.48 These differences lead to confusion, defective
registration and ultimately to non-compliance with registration procedures.49
Finally, even in instances where the law does require and stipulate clear procedures
for the registration of marriage, marriages still go unrecorded and unregistered
because of logistical and administrative difficulties that make registration onerous
and expensive. At least twenty countries in Africa charge fees for registration of
a marriage and at least 24 countries charge a fee on the first copy of a marriage
certificate.50 The overall cost of registration is made worse by the cost incurred
travelling to the nearest registration point, explaining why people living in rural
areas routinely have the lowest levels of marriage registration.51
The inaccessibility of marriage registration has the greatest effect on those
46 See, for example: http://www.uneca.org/sites/default/les/uploaded-documents/Statistics/CRMC3/
md_registration_en.pdfthatsuggeststhatcivilregistrationofmarriagesis“virtually unknown.”
47 Seepage4ofareportbytheUnitedNationsEconomicCommissionforAfricatitled“Report
of the Regional Assessment Study of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems in Africa”
available at http://www.uneca.org/sites/default/les/uploaded-documents/Statistics/CRVS/
regional-asessment-report_en.pdf.
48 Seea2012reportpublishedbytheUnitedNationsEconomicCommissionforAfricatitled“Report
of the Regional Assessment Study of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems in Africa” at
page 4.
49 See,forexample,areportbyHumanRightsWatchpublishedin2003“Double Standards:
Women’s Property Rights Violations in Kenya” available at http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/les/
reports/africa1203.pdf.
50 Seepage7ofareportbytheUnitedNationsEconomicCommissionforAfricatitled“Report
of the Regional Assessment Study of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems in Africa”
available at http://www.uneca.org/sites/default/les/uploaded-documents/Statistics/CRVS/
regional-asessment-report_en.pdf.
51 United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (n 50 above) at page 8.

CHAPTER 2 CONTEXT AND CAUSES
A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA 37
communities most susceptible to child marriage, including those in rural areas
and those poorer and less educated. Additionally, child marriages often take the
form of traditional or customary marriages, which go unregistered more often
than other forms of marriage.
Related to this, the absence of birth registration procedures in some parts of
Africa makes enforcement of the prohibition against child marriage an impossible
task. Birth certificates produced on marriage are the most effective way of
ensuring that parties meet the minimum age requirements and can consent to
a marriage. The inadequacy of birth registration across Africa is well established
and prompted the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of
the Child (ACERWC) to issue, in 2014, a General Comment on the right to birth
registration, name and nationality.52 The absence of birth registration was reported
as a cause of child marriage in Cameroon, Mozambique and the DRC, particularly
in rural areas. In the DRC girls reportedly provide fake birth certificates or forge
electoral cards in order to marry.
52 General Comment Number 2 on Article 6 of the African Children’s Charter, issued by the ACERWC
in April 2014 available at http://www.acerwc.org/?wpdmdl=8606 (accessed 26 February 2016).
Arsenie Coseac

CHAPTER 2 CONTEXT AND CAUSES
38 A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA
2.2.7 Armed conflict and sexual violence
Situations of armed conflict and instability significantly increase the likelihood
of child marriage. Rebel groups and members of national armies rely extensively
on rape, sexual violence, abduction, torture and other harms to control and exert
dominance over communities. Women and children are at particular risk and
child marriages occur as both a direct and indirect result of these violations.
Conflict also exacerbates existing risk factors that lead to child marriage. This is
true of the conflict in northern Uganda, Mali and the DRC, where large numbers
of people have become refugees or fallen into poverty. Conflict is disruptive of
education and other basic services and together; these factors all result in young
girls being traded into marriage as a means to mitigate economic pressure.53
Amongst the refugee population in Uganda, child marriage is reportedly
motivated more by economic and physical security than by cultural factors.54
Military conflict in the eastern DRC has also created a climate conducive to child
marriage: limited rule of law and economic insecurity have made girls more
vulnerable to child marriage.
In the context of conflict, many parents believe that it is in the interest of their
daughters to be married young. For example, one father in North Kivu in the
DRC reported marrying his 14-year-old daughter to a military officer, arguing that
this would protect her against rebel groups and rape. Similarly, there is evidence
to suggest that following the conflict in Northern Uganda, some families forced
their daughters to marry military officers in an attempt to defend family honour
and secure protection for themselves and the girls.55 This happened alongside
systematic abduction of young girls by the Lord’s Resistance Army, particularly
in the Acholi region of northern Uganda, and resulted in just over half of those
young women being forced to serve as wives to rebels.56 Along the Busia border
of Kenya and Uganda, a region where there is on-going tribal conflict, child
marriage is sometimes seen as a means for girls to escape the conflict. This is
evident in the relatively high prevalence of child marriage, and in the number of
girls who are married to men from outside the community.
53 IsisWicce“ChildMarriageandItsImpactonDevelopment:thecaseofKasessedistrictin
Uganda” (2001) 21.
54 NGottschalk“Uganda:EarlyMarriageasaformofsexualviolence”Forced Migration Review
No. 27 (2007).
55 HumanRightsWatchandAmnestyInternational“TheScarsofDeath:childrenabductedbythe
Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda” (1997) 37.
56 HumanRightsWatchandAmnestyInternational“TheScarsofDeath:childrenabductedbythe
Lord’sResistanceArmyinUganda”(1997)andseealsoKCarlsonandDMazuranaForced
Marriage Within the Lord’s Resistance Army Uganda Feinstein International Centre, Tufts
University (2008) 14.

CHAPTER 3: IMPACTS
OF CHILD
MARRIAGE

A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA 41
CHAPTER 3: IMPACTS OF CHILD MARRIAGE
Examining the impact of child marriage can be complicated, since many of the social
circumstances that result from child marriage also tend to increase its prevalence. The
cycle of poverty is a good example of this: poverty renders girls vulnerable to child
marriage and is thus a cause but girls who marry young tend to become trapped in
poverty and it is therefore also a consequence. Because poverty was discussed above
in relation to the causes of child marriage, this section focuses on how child marriage
impacts education and girls’ sexual and reproductive health and rights.
3.1 Girls’ education
There is a strong correlation between early marriage and low levels of enrolment
and retention of girls in school. The reasons for this correlation are complex, since
lack of access to formal education is a prime example of a social factor that both
results from and renders girls more vulnerable to child marriage. Married girls
tend to have lower educational outcomes because they are taken out of school
when they marry. But it is also true that the lower a girls’ educational attainment,
the higher her chances are of being married young. For instance, in the Gambia,
59% of girls with no formal education are married before the age of 18, compared
to 48% of girls with primary education and 15% with secondary education.
In some cases, girls and their parents are unaware or unconvinced of the long-
term importance of education and are persuaded by the perceived benefits of
marriage, assuming their husbands will support them economically. This leads to
poor enrolment and retention rates, with girls eventually dropping out of school
completely. Rigid school schedules can also be a significant barrier to participation
for girls, as many have responsibilities that may clash with traditional school
timetables. Girls who are married are more likely to have children of their own
and are more likely to be responsible for household tasks. These domestic burdens,
childbearing responsibilities and social norms that fail to prioritise their education
limit girls’ access to formal and informal education throughout the world.1
All countries studied have policies or legislation that guarantees the right to
education for all children on a non-discriminatory basis. In some countries, basic
education is free and compulsory for all and both governments and parents have
an obligation to ensure that children go to school.
1 ICRW,(2003),“TooYoungtoWed:TheLives,RightsandHealthofYoungMarriedGirls”,(2003).
Available: http://www.icrw.org/publications/too-young-wed-0.

CHAPTER 3 IMPACTS OF CHILD MARRIAGE
42 A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA
In the Gambia, the Children’s Act stipulates that every child has the right to
a free and compulsory basic education, placing an obligation on the government
to provide access to education. Parents and guardians have the responsibility for
ensuring that the children in their care attend and complete basic education.2 The
Women’s Act of Gambia also obligates government to promote the enrolment
and retention of girls in schools and other training institutions and to organise
programmes for women who leave school prematurely.3 In the DRC, the
constitution provides that every child has the right to education. Parents are
obliged to send their children to school and the government guarantees the right
to free and compulsory education.4
Many of the countries under study also have policies aimed specifically at
ensuring gender parity in education beyond primary education. These include
policies that allow girls who become pregnant to continue school after giving birth.
In the Gambia, for instance, the policy is that girls are allowed to return to school after
delivering their child. Similarly in Uganda girls are permitted either return to school
after giving birth or else they have the right to an alternative education. In Malawi,
the Ministry of Education is establishing mothers’ groups in areas where significant
numbers of girls drop out of school because of pregnancy. Also in Malawi, special
scholarships and subsidies have been created to encourage girls to stay in school.
Yet unfortunately, many of these policies have not translated into increased
access to education for girls. Even in countries with free and compulsory primary
education, boys are still privileged and girls stay home to provide support for
the family. Even girls whose families can afford for them to study often drop out
of school when they are married or become pregnant, because of the relatively
lower priority placed on girls’ education.
3.2 Sexual and reproductive health and rights
There are many negative health consequences of child marriage. Girls who marry
young are often unable to use or access contraception and quickly become pregnant.
In Mozambique, the likelihood that a woman has 3 or more children is seven times
higher among girls who were married by age 15.5 Because girls are not physically,
2 Article 18(2) of Children’s Act of Gambia (2005), available at http://www.africanchildforum.org/clr/
Legislation%20Per%20Country/Gambia/gambia_children_2005_en.pdf(accessed23June2015).
3 Section 26 of the Women’s Act of Gambia, available at http://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/docs/MON
OGRAPH/90619/115464/F-1335047347/GMB90619.pdf(accessed09June2015).
4 Article 40 of the Constitution of DRC (2005), available at https://www.constituteproject.org/
constitution/Democratic_Republic_of_the_Congo_2011?lang=en#66(accessed23June2015).
5 Unicef,2015‘AProleofChildMarriageinAfrica’availableathttp://data.unicef.org/corecode/
uploads/document6/uploaded_pdfs/corecode/UNICEF-Child-Marriage-Brochure-High-
Single_246.pdf (accessed 26 January 2016).

CHAPTER 3 IMPACTS OF CHILD MARRIAGE
A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA 43
physiologically or psychologically prepared, early and teen pregnancy puts girls at
enormous risk of premature labour, complications during delivery and maternal
mortality.6 In Mali, girls who were married before the age of 15 are 21% less likely to
receive medical care during pregnancy than women who married as adults.7 Girls
between 10 and 14 years old are five times more likely to die during pregnancy or
childbirth as compared to older women.8 In Mozambique, 24% of deaths among
women aged 15 to 19 is attributed to maternal causes, but this proportion decreases
to 16% among women aged 25 to 29 and 8% among women aged 45 to 49 years.
The table below shows child marriage prevalence rates against the ratio of maternal
mortality and adolescent birth rates in the 10 countries studied. The table shows
that high child marriage prevalence rates are correlated with higher maternal
mortality ratios and with higher adolescent birth rates.9
Table 1: Child Marriage Prevalence Rates against selected health indicators
in the ten countries studied
Country Total population in
millions 2014
Prevalence of child
marriage (percentage
married by 18)
Maternal mortality
ratio (deaths per 100
000) 2013
Adolescent birth rate
per 1000 women aged
15-19 2012
Cameroon 22.8 36 590 128
DRC 69.4 39 730 135
The Gambia 1.9 36 430 88
Kenya 45.5 34 400 106
Malawi 16.8 50 510 157
Mali 15.8 55 550 172
Mauritania 4.0 35 320 88
Mozambique 26.5 52 480 166
South Africa 53.1 6 140 54
Uganda 38.8 46 360 146
6 UNICEF, Early Marriage: Child Spouses, Innocenti Digest No.7, 4 (2001 ) available at http://
www.unicef-irc.org/publications/pdf/digest7e.pdf.JAWalker‘EarlymarriageinAfrica–Trends,
harmful effects and interventions’ (2012) 16 African Journal of Reproductive Health 2 231.
7 Unicef,2014‘EndingChildMarriage:ProgressandProspectsavailableathttp://data.unicef.org/
corecode/uploads/document6/uploaded_pdfs/corecode/Child-Marriage-Brochure-HR_164.pdf
(accessed 26 January 2016).
8 Mutyaba,R.,EarlyMarriage:AViolationofGirls’FundamentalHumanRightsinAfrica,
International Journal of Children’s Rights 19 (2011) 339–355.
9 UNFPA,2014“ThePowerof1.8Billion:StateoftheWorldPopulationReport”Takenfrom
selectedICPDdemographicindicatorsfrompage104onwardsavailableathttp://www.unfpa.
org/sites/default/les/pub-pdf/EN-SWOP14-Report_FINAL-web.pdf(accessed22March2016).

CHAPTER 3 IMPACTS OF CHILD MARRIAGE
44 A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA
The risks associated with early childbearing are exacerbated by the generally
poor access to contraception and sexual and reproductive services across Africa.
This means that girls in child marriages are not able to control their fertility. For
instance, in Mali it is reported that after being married, just 7.7% of girls use
contraception. Furthermore, in many of the countries under study, it was widely
accepted that men make decisions regarding when sex happens and whether
contraception is used in a marriage. Because girls often marry significantly
older men, their negotiating power is further reduced by the age difference and
by possible economic and social dependence. In Mauritania, 60% of married
adolescent girls have husbands who are at least 10 years older than they are.10
These power and age differentials constrain and disempower girls in many
situations but in particular, they limit girls’ abilities to negotiate safer sex and the
use of condoms or other contraception. They also increase girls’ vulnerability to
physical and sexual violence.
Girls in child marriages are especially vulnerable to infection by HIV and other
sexually transmitted infections (STIs). This is partly related to their reduced ability
to negotiate condom use but also because the tendency is for girls to marry older,
more sexually experienced men who are more likely to have been exposed to STIs.
This may also be because some child marriages are also polygynous marriages,
which increases girls’ exposure to their husband’s lifetime sexual experiences.
In Cameroon, 20% of married adolescent girls are in polygynous unions.11 In
sub-Saharan Africa, adolescent girls are between 2 and 6 times more likely to be
HIV positive than boys.12 Girls may also be biologically more vulnerable to HIV
infection, as their vaginas are not well lined with protective cells and the cervix
may therefore be more easily eroded.
10 Unicef,2015‘AProleofChildMarriageinAfrica’availableathttp://data.unicef.org/corecode/
uploads/document6/uploaded_pdfs/corecode/UNICEF-Child-Marriage-Brochure-High-
Single_246.pdf (accessed 26 January 2016).
11 Unicef,2015‘AProleofChildMarriageinAfrica’availableathttp://data.unicef.org/corecode/
uploads/document6/uploaded_pdfs/corecode/UNICEF-Child-Marriage-Brochure-High-
Single_246.pdf (accessed 26 January 2016).
12 InternationalCentreforWomen’sResearch,2010“ChildMarriageFactsandFigures”available
at http://www.icrw.org/child-marriage-facts-and-gures (accessed 26 February 2016).

CHAPTER 4: LAW

A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA 47
CHAPTER 4: LAW
4.1 International and regional law on child marriage
4.1.1 International and regional legal frameworks
Child marriage is unequivocally identified as a human rights violation under
both international and regional human rights law. The Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, 1948 (UDHR) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights, 1966 (ICCPR) both provide that no marriage shall be entered into without
the free and full consent of the intending spouses.1 Based on the assumption
that many children, and especially younger child, are not sufficiently mature and
therefore not able to give their free and full consent to marry, consensus under
international law is that children should not be permitted to enter into marriage.
Under international law, an absolute minimum age of marriage is not
immediately clear. Article 16(2) of CEDAW provides only that a minimum age for
marriage must be specified and that the registration of all marriages in an official
registry must be made compulsory.2 However, in a General Recommendation
issued by the CEDAW Committee in 1994, Article 16(2) was interpreted to require
that the minimum age of marriage should be 18 for both men and women and
that marriage should not be permitted unless both parties have attained the ‘full
maturity and capacity to act’.3 Similarly, the Convention on Consent to Marriage,
Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriages provides that marriage
shall not be entered into without the free consent of both parties.4
Regionally, the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (African
Children’s Charter) prohibits child marriage and the betrothal of boys and girls
and requires States Parties to specify the minimum age of marriage to be 18 years.5
The Maputo Protocol similarly imposes a clear obligation on states to set the
1 Article16(2)oftheUDHR,availableathttp://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/(accessed10
June2015),andarticle23(3)oftheICCPR,availableathttps://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/
UNTS/Volume%20999/volume-999-I-14668-English.pdf(accessed10June2015).
2 TheConventionisavailableathttp://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CEDAW.
aspx (accessed 24 June 2015).
3 UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), CEDAW General
Recommendation No. 21: Equality in Marriage and Family Relations, 1994, paragraphs 36 to 39
available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/48abd52c0.html (accessed 26 February 2016).
4 UnitedNationsGeneralAssemblyresolution1763A(XVII)(1962),availableathttp://www.ohchr.
org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/MinimumAgeForMarriage.aspx(accessed24June2015).
5 Article21(2),availableathttp://www.au.int/en/sites/default/les/Charter_En_African_Charter_on_
the_Rights_and_Wlefare_of_the_Child_AddisAbaba_July1990.pdf(accessed10June2015).

CHAPTER 4 LAW
48 A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA
minimum age of marriage for women to be 18 years.6 The better view is that that
these provisions are intended to apply to marriages in all its forms, whether civil,
religious or customary as neither the African Children’s Charter nor the Maputo
Protocol provide for any exceptions to the minimum marriageable age of 18 years.
International and regional legal frameworks also contain a number of
provisions aimed at the elimination of discrimination against women and at
ending harmful practices. These provisions are relevant to child marriage because
harmful practices have been determined either explicitly to include7 or accepted
as including child marriage.8 Child marriage is both a manifestation of gender
inequality and a reflection of the social norms that perpetuate discrimination
against women. Child marriage has discriminatory effects, is incompatible with
6 Article 6(b).
7 The prohibition against child marriage contained in Article 21 of the African Children’s Charter is
contained in the provision that enshrines protection against harmful social and cultural practices.
8 See in this regard the criteria for determining harmful practices as prohibited by articles 19 and
24(3) of the CRC and article 2, 5 and 16 of CEDAW as developed by the CRC and CEDAW
CommitteesandoutlinedinsectionV.oftheJointGeneralRecommendation/CommentNo.31
oftheCEDAWCommitteeandNo.18oftheCRCCommitteeonHarmfulPractices,2014.
World Bank Photo Collection

CHAPTER 4 LAW
A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA 49
the objects of equality and is a practice that is harmful and prejudicial to women
and children. The prohibition against child marriage therefore also finds basis in
provisions that prohibit discrimination and harmful practices. A number of these
provisions create positive obligations on States Parties, requiring them actively
to take measures aimed at combating discrimination and at modifying the social
and cultural patterns that perpetuate gender inequality.9 Article 5 of the Maputo
Protocol, which provides for the elimination of harmful practices, requires that
States Parties take measures aimed at eradicating all practices that affect the rights
of women. More broadly, however, the elimination of discrimination is also given
as the overall purpose and object of the Maputo Protocol. It is this commitment
that should be understood as having informed the design of the treaty generally
and the prohibition against child marriage in particular.10
The commitment to ending discrimination, harmful practices and child marriage
are interrelated not only with each other but also with a number of other rights. These
include the right to education and training, economic and social welfare rights, the
right to adequate housing and the right to a positive cultural context. If implemented,
these provisions could see the eradication of many of the root causes of child marriage
and would provide protection to women and girls who are married young.
All African countries have ratified at least one of the international or regional
instruments mentioned above. In addition, many African countries have specified
that international legal commitments should be taken into consideration when
adjudicating domestic cases. Section 39(b) of the South African constitution, for
example, dictates that international law must be considered when adjudicating a
case. Similarly, section 215 of the 2006 constitution of the DRC provides that duly
ratified international law is superior to national law.
In most countries studied, legal change required by treaty ratification is not
always made at the constitutional level. One exception to this is Kenya, where the
new constitution incorporates several aspects of treaties that the state has signed and
ratified. Elsewhere, countries have passed legislation after ratification to create legally
enforceable obligations on the government at the domestic level. After ratification of
an instrument, a legislative act of the national assembly or parliament is generally
required in order for that particular law to have force locally. For example, following
ratification of CEDAW and the Maputo Protocol, the Gambia passed the Women’s
Act into law in 2010, which had as its object to incorporate and enforce provisions of
CEDAW and the Maputo Protocol. In the same vein, Uganda passed the Prohibition
of Female Genital Mutilation Act in 2010 and Kenya adopted a similar law in 2011.
9 Article2,MaputoProtocol.
10 PreambletotheMaputoProtocol.

CHAPTER 4 LAW
50 A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA
4.1.2 Jurisprudence
In 2014, the CEDAW Committee and the Committee on the Rights of the Child
issued a joint general recommendation on harmful practices.11 The joint General
Comment contains authoritative guidance on legislative, policy and other
measures recommended for full compliance with obligations under the two
conventions. The Committees jointly acknowledged that harmful practices are
deeply rooted in societal attitudes and are often based on stereotyped roles.
Obligations set out in both CEDAW and the Convention on the Rights of the
Child (CRC) require that States Parties take effective and appropriate measures
to address and eliminate harmful practices. In their joint General Comment, the
committees noted that this includes but is not limited to:
•The establishment of well-defined rights-based and locally relevant holistic
strategies which also encompass supportive legal and policy measures; and
• The promotion of educational programmes and changes at local, regional and
national levels.
Concluding Observations issued at the United Nations level have included
recommendations on specific action to end child marriage, such as amending
legislation. Increasingly, however, they suggest that although legislative
frameworks are important, legal change is a necessary but not sufficient factor
in eradicating child marriage. In respect of Kenya and South Africa, for example,
it has been noted in Concluding Observations that despite relatively strong
legal provisions, child marriage still takes place in both countries.12 The CRC
Committee have recently stressed the need for Kenya to ensure implementation
of existing laws that prohibit child marriage.13 Additionally, both the CEDAW
and CRC Committees have made recommendations on non-legal measures.
As an example, the CEDAW Committee recommended that Malawi adopt a
comprehensive strategy aimed at modifying attitudes, stereotypes and practices
that are harmful to women.14 Similarly, the CRC Committee have recommended
11 Joint General Recommendation No. 31 of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination
against Women and General Comment No. 18 of the Committee on the Rights of the Child
onharmfulpractices,availableathttp://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.
aspx?NewsID=15250&LangID=E (accessed 25 June 2015).
12 CEDAW Committee’s Concluding Observations for Kenya 5 April 2011; CEDAW Committee’s
concluding observation for South Africa 5 April 2011.
13 CRCCommittee,2016ConcludingObservationsissuedinrespectofKenya’sthirdtofth
periodic reports available at http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.
aspx?NewsID=16980&LangID=E (accessed 16 March 2016).
14 CEDAW Committee, 2010 Concluding Observations issued in respect of Malawi’s 6th periodic
state report available at http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?s
ymbolno=CEDAW%2fC%2fMWI%2fCO%2f6 (accessed 16 March 2016).

CHAPTER 4 LAW
A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA 51
that Uganda undertake sensitisation campaigns, particularly with local traditional
leaders, on the negative impact that child marriage has on girls.15
There has been limited jurisprudence from the African Commission or the
ACERWC in the form of concluding observations, perhaps because reporting
has been very irregular. However, recommendations issued in respect of state
reports submitted by the countries studied have covered issues relating to child
marriage, such as increasing access to education, creating awareness about child
marriage and reducing teenage pregnancy.
The African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) is paying increasing attention
to the prevalence and impact of child marriage in Africa. On several occasions,
the Africa Peer Review Panel has recognised child marriage as an impediment to
both the right to education and the achievement of gender equality. In 2006, a
Country Review Report issued in respect of Kenya highlighted child marriages
15 CRC Committee, 2005 Concluding Observations issued in respect of the second periodic report
submitted by Uganda available at http://www.refworld.org/publisher,CRC,CONCOBSERVATION
S,UGA,45377eb70,0.html (accessed 16 March 2016).
Stephan Gladieu/World Bank

CHAPTER 4 LAW
52 A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA
as a constraint to the educational advancement of girls.16 The African Peer Review
Panel proposed, under objective 8 of the Programme of Action for Kenya, the
enactment of laws that protect children from child marriage.17 A 2009 Country
Review Mission for Uganda similarly identified child marriage as one of the
practices or norms that support the violation of women’s rights and contribute
to the high dropout rate of girls from school.18 The Country Review Mission
recommended that, to address these challenges, Uganda needs to pass laws that
discourage child marriage.19 The African Peer Review Panel has also recommended
that Tanzania reform its legislation pertaining to the age of marriage, with a view
to eliminating exceptions that allow for girls aged 14 and boys age 16 to marry, in
contravention of regional and international commitments to which Tanzania is a
16 APRMCountryReviewReportforKenya,2006atpage222.Availableat:http://aprm-au.org/
view-publication?nxtpbdi=10&&pubId=161 (accessed 26 January 2016).
17 APRMCountryReviewReportforKenyan16aboveatpage336
18 APRMCountryReviewReportforUgandaNo.7,2009atpage101.Availableat:http://aprm-au.
org/view-publication?nxtpbdi=10&&pubId=164 (accessed 26 January 2016).
19 APRMCountryReviewReportforUgandan18aboveatpage271.
Rod Waddington

CHAPTER 4 LAW
A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA 53
party.20 Finally, a Country Review Report for Mozambique, issued in 2010 noted
child marriage as a challenge to the realisation of women’s rights in the country.21
4.2 Domestic law
4.2.1 Statutory law
Of the countries examined for this study, the Gambia, Kenya, Malawi,
Mozambique, South Africa and Uganda have a legal framework that is largely
based on British common law. The DRC, Mali and Mauritania, by contrast, have
based their legal systems on French civil law. Cameroon is a bijural system, with
the English common law operating in the two Anglophone regions of North
West and South West and the French civil law operating in the eight francophone
regions of Adamaoua, Centre, East, Far North, Littoral, North, West and South.
Despite these broad differences of legal systems, most of the countries under
study have formal legal prohibitions on or obstacles to child marriage.
In instances where child marriage is not addressed overtly by law, broader
pieces of legislation and constitutional human rights protections can be inferred
to limit or prohibit child marriage. For instance, many of the countries under
study establish the right to form a family, the right to marry, the right to equality
and the right to protection from discrimination in their respective constitutions.
Legal commitments to gender equality and to the principle of the best interests
of the child are also firmly established in a number of jurisdictions. Beyond the
constitution, there are also other laws that seek to promote, protect and fulfil
women and children’s rights. Many countries have specific legislation seeking
to regulate the rights and interests of children, including Kenya, Uganda, South
Africa, Malawi, Mozambique and the Gambia. Generally, the existence of such
legislation shows increased awareness of issues relating to children.
All of the countries under study define a minimum age for civil marriage and
customary or other forms of marriage, where these are legally recognised. The
Table below gives the formal minimum age of marriage for the different countries
studied, citing relevant legislation.
20 APRMCountryReviewReportforTanzaniaNo.17,2013atpage102.Availableat:http://aprm-
au.org/view-publication?nxtpbdi=10&&pubId=174 (accessed 26 January 2016).
21 APRMCountryReviewReportforMozambique,2010atpage147.Availableathttps://www.
issafrica.org/uploads/APRM_Mozambique.pdf (accessed 23 January 2016).

CHAPTER 4 LAW
54 A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA
Table 2: Domestic law on child marriage in the ten countries studied
Country Legislation
Cameroon The Civil Status Registration Ordinance No 81-02, 1981 provides that the minimum age of marriage
is 15 for women and 18 for men.
DRC In terms of the Child Protection Code of 2009, the engagement and marriage of a child is prohibited.
According to Article 352 of the Family Code, boys below age 18 and girls below age 15 may not enter
a marriage.
The Gambia With regard to family law, four different legal systems are in operation and are recognised under
article 7 of the 1997 Constitution – civil, customary, Christian and Sharia. While child marriage and
betrothal are formally prohibited under civil law, this law defers to customary and religious systems
of law, which typically allow child marriage.
Kenya The Marriage Act of 2008 and the Constitution of 2010 provide 18 as the minimum age for marriage
for both women and men.
Malawi The Marriage, Divorce and Family Relations Act specifies18 as the minimum age of marriage for
women and men. This is however subject to the Constitution of Malawi which provides under section
22(7) that ‘for persons between the age of fifteen and eighteen years, a marriages shall only be
entered into with the consent of their parents or guardians.’ It proceeds to indicate under sub section
8 that the state shall actively discourage marriage between persons where either of them is under
the age of fifteen years.’
Mali The Code of Persons and the Family 2011 provides 18 years as the minimum legal age for civil
marriage for both women and men.
Mauritania The Personal Status Code of 2001 provides 18 years as the minimum age for civil marriage for both
women and men.
Mozambique The Family Law of 2004 provides 18 years as the minimum legal age for marriage for both men
and women. Exceptionally, marriage can be authorised from the age of 16 years, in the event of
pregnancy or with consent of the parents or legal representatives.
South Africa The Marriage Act of 1961, the Civil Union Act of 2006 and the Recognition of Customary Marriages
Act of 1998 provide that the minimum age of marriage is 18 years but both the Marriage Act and the
Recognition of Customary Marriages Act recognise exceptions.
Uganda The Constitution sets the minimum age for marriage at 18, and specifies ‘men and women are
entitled to equal rights in marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.’ However, the Customary
Marriages (Registration) Act 1973 states that the minimum age for customary marriage is 18 years
for men and 16 years for women.
It should be clear that, with a few exceptions, most of the countries under study
adopt the international standard of requiring 18 years as the legal minimum age
of marriage for both women and men in the main statutes governing marriage.
However, exceptions to this minimum age are often recognised, either in the
same of other statutes. Very frequently, for example, the law will allow for a child
to be married provided that the parent or guardian of the child consents.
In South Africa, both girls and boys below age 18 may be married with
the consent of a guardian, and girls below the age of 15 can be married with

CHAPTER 4 LAW
A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA 55
permission from the Minister of Home Affairs. Mozambique similarly allows for
marriages to take place where an intended spouse is younger than 18, provided it
is supported by the child’s guardians. While the constitution of Uganda establishes
the minimum age for marriage to be 18, the only minimum age mentioned in the
Marriage Act is 21 years and persons younger than this can be married with the
consent of a guardian. In Kenya, the Marriage Act allows for a child to be married
if a guardian of the child provides written consent.
In most of the countries studied, sanctions for non compliance with statutory
laws on the minimum age of marriage have done little to curb the practice of child
marriage. In Kenya, the Marriage Act criminalises the act of marrying or marrying
off a child with the caveat that this is excusable where the person with custody
of the child swears by affidavit. However, although marrying or marrying off a
child constitutes a criminal offence, the crime is not punishable in terms of the
Marriage Act. The consummation of the marriage will be punishable in terms of
the Sexual Offences Act, although this serves only to criminalise acts and events
that happen after the marriage has taken place.
In South Africa there are no direct legal sanctions for child marriage. The newly
signed Prevention and Combating of Trafficking in Persons Act is, however, clear
on the legal sanctions that apply if a person concludes a forced marriage with
another person and presumably, this could see application even in circumstances
where parental consent is obtained. Upon conviction, a person who concludes a
forced marriage is liable for a fine or imprisonment or both.22 In Malawi, the Child
Care Protection and Justice Act (sections 81 and 83) provides that a person who
forces a child into marriage shall be liable to imprisonment for 10 years.
Whether legal sanctions and remedies are likely to have a deterrent effect
on the practice of child marriage depends ultimately on enforcement, which is
discussed separately.
4.2.2 Customary and religious law
All countries that were the focus of this study operate under regimes of legal
pluralism where both civil legislation and customary or religious law is applicable
simultaneously. Consequently, customary and religious law is constitutionally
recognised in most of the countries studied, although the extent to which it is
authoritative varies. The recognition of customary law is, however, generally
subject to national legislation.
Not all countries studied specify a minimum age for marriage under customary
or religious law. In the Gambia, Mali and Mauritania, there is no minimum age of
22 SouthAfricasubmissiontoCHR.

CHAPTER 4 LAW
56 A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA
marriage under Islamic Shariah law, which is the dominant tradition governing
family law. In the Children’s Act of the Gambia, it is stipulated that ‘subject to the
provisions of any applicable personal law, no child is capable of contracting a valid
marriage, and a marriage so contracted is voidable.’ But ‘any applicable personal
law’ includes Shariah law, which permits marriage upon physical maturity, a life
event that often occurs well before the age of 18. Since approximately 95% of the
population falls under Shariah law, child marriage therefore remains a common
and effectively legal practice in the Gambia.
4.3 Enforcement of laws on child marriage
Laws that prohibit child marriage are necessary but not sufficient to eliminate
the practice in reality. In most of the countries studied, the introduction of new
statutory legal sanctions and remedies determined by courts has in fact gone
alongside increasing prevalence of the practice. A large part of the explanation
for this is that legal sanctions and remedies are only likely to have a deterrent
effect if they are effectively enforced. Such enforcement presents a challenge
in the countries under study, particularly because these laws concern ‘private’
family matters.
Enforcement and monitoring mechanisms are mostly judicial and
institutional, taking the form of courts and National Human Rights Commissions,
Ombudspersons and Equality Commissions. While some countries have relatively
strong judicial systems with good access to justice for women and children,
in other countries those seeking to use judicial mechanisms to deal with child
marriage face tremendous obstacles. In the most extreme instances, namely the
DRC and Mali, the enforcement of statutes and constitutional protections have
been severely weakened in general by on going civil strife. In the DRC, conditions
in prison are deplorable and many of those convicted are released fraudulently
because of the high level of corruption.23
Even in countries where the administration of law operates effectively, cases
of child marriage are often diverted from the state legal system. A major reason
for this is that child marriage mostly occurs under customary or religious law,
and any disputes that arise tend to be resolved under the auspices of customary
or religious authorities. The legal proceedings conducted by these authorities
often do not generate a written record, which limits the possibility of developing
a nationally consistent body of law. Taking the example of Malawi, it is reported
that customary proceedings often tend to prioritise community cohesion over
23 UnitedNationsMissionintheDemocraticRepublicoftheCongo‘ReportonDetentioninDRC
PrisonsandDungeons’(2004);TreasureKibangula‘PrisonsintheDRC:Conditionsdeemed
“catastrophic”bytheICRC’JeuneAfrique,25April2013

CHAPTER 4 LAW
A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA 57
justice for victims, meaning that criminal sanctions are not applied.24 Moreover,
the authorities charged with adjudicating the case may support the practice of
child marriage, and may even have been involved in deciding that the marriage
at issue would take place.
Even in the state justice system, judges in many jurisdictions are in support
of customs that condone child marriage and so will not apply criminal sanctions
if cases appear in court. In South Africa, a High Court judge has publicly argued
that a child marriage conducted according to the ukuthwala custom should be
recognised as valid. In the Gambia, a court ordered the refund of a dowry paid
for the marriage of a 15-year-old child instead of ordering the prosecution of the
husband who had clearly married the girl as a child in contravention of the law.
There are various other reasons why it is difficult to prosecute perpetrators
of child marriage via formal legal proceedings. In the Gambia, it is reported
that lawyers are unaffordable to most people, which means that cases cannot
24 HumanRightsWatch“I’veneverexperiencedhappiness:ChildmarriageinMalawi”(March
2014),availableathttp://www.hrw.org/sites/default/les/reports/malawi0314_ForUpload.pdf
(accessed 26 June 2015).
Wikimedia Commons

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58 A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA
be brought to court. In many instances, girls are forced into marriage by their
own families, which make it unlikely for the child marriage to be reported at all.
Even where relevant authorities are notified, it is often immensely difficult to
prosecute because the offenders are also the main witnesses to the events. Even
where matters are reported to the police and brought to court, cases often collapse
because of societal and economic pressure on the girl to withdraw her complaint.
There have, however, been a number of cases where authorities have
successfully secured convictions of perpetrators. In South Africa, the High Court
sentenced 32-year-old Mvumeleni Jezile to 22 years in prison for abducting
and forcibly marrying a 14 year-old girl under the ukuthwala custom, with the
assistance of the girl’s grandmother. In the Gambia successful prosecution was
initiated against a family after they married off a 16-year-old girl to a man who
had abducted the girl and took her to Angola. Very recently, in a bold judgment
handed down by the constitutional court in Zimbabwe in early 2016, the court
ruled that marriage before the age of 18 is illegal following an application by
two women who sought to have the legal age of married changed to 18 for both
women and men.
With regards to non-judicial mechanisms, the National Human Rights
Institutions in Uganda and Kenya have been active in dealing with cases related
to child marriage. The ombudsperson in Mozambique has also been relatively
active about issues concerning children. Continentally, a number of national
human rights institutions belonging to the Commonwealth signed onto the Kigali
Declaration in 2015 to declare their support to ending child marriage, including
through monitoring and enforcement of legislation, improving data collection
and promoting compulsory education for girls.

CHAPTER 5: INTERVENTIONS

A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA 61
CHAPTER 5: INTERVENTIONS
Many states and non-governmental organisations in the countries under study
have attempted to reduce the prevalence of child marriage or mitigate its impact
by means other than advocating for legal prohibitions of the practice. Similarly,
local community initiatives and organisations working at the continental level
have led effective interventions aimed at ending child marriage.
5.1 Improved enforcement and remedial measures
Although many countries in the region criminalise child marriage and other
harmful practices, they generally fail to enforce the relevant laws effectively.
In part, this is attributable to commonly held perceptions that regard matters
relating to marriage and family life as private and outside of the purview of the
law. These characterisations, which are used to justify restrictive interpretations
of state accountability for child marriage, complicate enforcement. However,
several countries studied have taken measures to improve enforcement capacity,
either in the national judicial system or at the local and extrajudicial level.
In Malawi, for example, there has been a significant drive to improve support
services for women and children who are survivors of rape, gender-based
violence and abuse within the family. Police Victim Support Units, Community
Victim Support Units and a National Child Helpline have been established. A
2011 impact study of judicial and quasi-judicial activities in Malawi suggests that
these efforts have been effective. The study identified the child justice system
as working remarkably well and framed it as a model for the region.1 Attempts
have also been made to involve customary authorities in the protection of
children’s rights in Malawi. For instance, local chiefs in the Karonga district
have been trained to create stringent local bylaws around child marriage,
which typically involve a fine for anyone forcing a child to marry before they
have completed their education. These bylaws have not only been effective in
deterring child marriage, but the money from fines is usually donated to local
schools, amplifying the positive impact of this intervention. In Malawi’s Dedza
district, female chief Theresa Kachindamoto required 51 sub chiefs to sign an
agreement in 2007 forbidding the marriage of children under the age of 18.
1 FrontierConsulting2003“SSAJImpactStudy:Malawi”asquotedinUNICEF“MalawiChild
ProtectionStrategy2012–2016”(2011),availableathttp://www.unicef.org/malawi/MLW_
resources_childprotecstrategy.pdf(accessed28June2015).

CHAPTER 5 INTERVENTIONS
62 A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA
Undeterred by strong opposition and threats of violence, chief Kachindamoto
has conducted door to door tours, arranged sit downs with community groups,
persuaded people in the value of education and annulled over 850 unions in
the past two years.2
A number of local districts in Uganda have also enacted bylaws to address the
child marriage at the community level. District local councils in Lwengo, Kasese,
Ntoroko and Kabarole have all passed bylaws on child marriages and they are
assisted by administrative unit councils in the implementation of these laws.
FGM is sometimes a precursor to child marriage and in Kenya the government’s
response has been to tackle the two practices jointly. In 2013 the government of
Kenya established an Anti-FGM Advisory Board, to coordinate implementation
of Kenya’s FGM Act of 2011. Through this, a dedicated Anti FGM and Child
Marriage Prosecution Office was established in the Office of the Director of
Public Prosecutions to fast track the prosecution of FGM and child marriage cases.
2 HannahMcNeish.2016“HowMalawiChiefTheresaKachindomotoisworkingtostopchild
marriage” available at http://www.one.org/international/blog/how-malawi-chief-theresa-
kachindomoto-is-working-to-stop-child-marriage/ (accessed 15 March 2016).
Wikimedia Commons

CHAPTER 5 INTERVENTIONS
A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA 63
Importantly, the Anti FGM Board is resourced to carry out activities and has been
able to staff and train relevant units to carry out its objectives. Law enforcement
campaigns have been conducted at the community level, working with religious
leaders and the Council of Elders as an entry point to communities.
National Human Rights Institutions in the countries studied and across the
continent are also taking an increasingly active role in enforcing the prohibition
on child marriage. In 2015, Human Rights Commissions in Cameroon, Kenya,
Malawi, Uganda and a number of other commonwealth nations signed on
to the Kigali Declaration on the prevention and elimination of child marriage.
Among other things, this declaration commits national human rights institutions
to develop their institutional capacities to handle complaints and conduct
investigations on child marriage, strengthen their monitoring and enforcement
of relevant laws on child marriage, develop practical plans for preventing child
marriage and develop mechanisms of referral to appropriate services.3
The South African Commission for Gender Equality, an independent statutory
body created by the constitution, carried out an investigation into the practice of
ukuthwala in 2012. The investigation assessed gaps in the state’s prevention and
response efforts and a number of recommendations were made, including around
the development of clearer protocols, training in how to report and respond to cases
of ukuthwala and the need for improved monitoring, oversight and accountability.4
In 2013, South Africa passed the Prevention and Combating of Trafficking in
Persons Act, which may make it easier to prosecute some abuses associated with
child marriage. Section 4(2)(b) provides that any person who concludes a forced
marriage with another person for the purposes of exploitation of that person is
guilty of an offence. Parents and relatives who force a child into marriage for
financial or other gain can potentially be prosecuted under provisions which
criminalise the transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons by means of force,
intimidation or other forms of coercion or by abusing vulnerability, for the
purpose of exploitation. Similarly, the Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Act of
Uganda could be used to prevent child marriages from taking place. However,
since being passed in 2009 it has not been used as extensively as it could be as a
means for enforcing the prohibition against child marriage.
3 The Kigali Declaration signed in Kigali in May 2015 avialable at http://thecommonwealth.org/
sites/default/les/press-release/documents/Early%20and%20Forced%20Marriage%20-%20
Kigali%20Declaration.pdf (accessed 16 March 2016).
4 South African CommissionforGenderEquality.2012UkuthwalainKwaZuluNatal:An
InvestigationintoStatePreventionandResponseavailableathttp://pmg-assets.s3-website-eu-
west-1.amazonaws.com/130320ukuthwala.pdf (accessed 16 March 2016).

CHAPTER 5 INTERVENTIONS
64 A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA
5.2 Education policies
Recognising the connections between poverty and low educational achievement
for girls and child marriage, many governments across the region have
attempted to address child marriage by tackling the unequal effects of poverty
on women. This has seen a push to make schooling and healthcare more
accessible to girls. In the Gambia, Kenya, Mozambique and Uganda, national
policies on reproductive and child health, national youth policies and national
gender and empowerment policies have been implemented. These policies often
involve coordination between different government departments, including
those responsible for health, social welfare, gender, and education and family
matters. Cameroon has adopted a National Policy on Gender, which aims at the
eradication of inequalities between men and women, including child marriage,
and focuses on access to education for girls and the creation of economic
opportunities for women. Similarly, in Mozambique a Gender Strategy for the
Education Sector was adopted in 2011 and set goals for the achievement of
equal rights and opportunities for girls by 2015. This policy recognised the need
to promote girls’ secondary school attendance, including through scholarships
and thematic campaigns which addressed the barriers to education.
Education is considered to be the most significant factor delaying the age
at which girls are married and for this reason, it is not surprising that there are a
significant number of child marriage programmes which are aimed at keeping girls
in school.5 Malawi has put in place a number of programmes to promote education
for women and girls. For instance, school feeding programmes have been instituted
in primary schools and government have attempted to provide more toilet facilities
in schools. This is important since issues around sanitation often discourage girls
from attending school once they reach puberty. Since 2007, Malawi has also had
a policy for readmitting and reintegrating girls who have dropped out of school
due to pregnancy, which includes the subsidisation of school fees. Girls are being
encouraged to pursue secondary education by the provision of government bursaries,
the introduction of evening classes for day schools, and by the construction of more
public boarding schools. The Safe School Programme aims to address the prevalence
of gender-based violence in schools. Finally, to mitigate gender disparities in tertiary
education, more university residences have been constructed for female students
and universities now face a quota for the admission of women.
In Kenya, attempts have been made to accommodate more flexible school
timetables that allow children to attend schools in the evenings or shift the annual
5 Mathur,S.M.GreeneandA.Malhotra.2003“TooYoungtoWed:TheLives,RightsandHealth
ofYoungMarriedGirls”InternationalCentreforResearchonWomen,Washington,DC.

CHAPTER 5 INTERVENTIONS
A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA 65
school programme so that those involved in seasonal tasks like harvesting crops
are not excluded. These changes have been shown to reduce the dropout rate in
areas where outside social and economic factors pose a serious threat to consistent
attendance, particularly for girls. Organisations in Kenya have also tried to
incentivise girls’ attendance at school through payment of a stipend to the families
of girls who stay in school to substitute for any bride wealth that might otherwise
be collected.6 In addition to cash incentives, one programme in Western Kenya
provided free school uniforms to girls as an incentive for them to stay in school.
This led to a 17% reduction in the incidence of child marriage at the schools which
participated in the programme.7 The Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education in
the Gambia recently introduced a School Improvement Grant aimed at reducing
6 This initiative was established by the Christian Children’s Fund in 1999 and is an approach which
targets the prevention of child marriage amongst members of the Massai community in Kenya
available at https://www.childfund.org/media/article.aspxid=426.aspx (accessed 15 March 2016).
7 EstherDuo,PascalineDupas,MichaelKremerandSamuelSinei.2006.“PreventingHIVand
TeenPregnancyinKenya:TheRoleofTeacherTrainingandEducationSubsidies”Poverty
Action Lab available at https://www.povertyactionlab.org/evaluation/preventing-hiv-and-teen-
pregnancy-kenya-roles-teacher-training-and-education-subsidies (accessed 15 March 2016).
Stephan Gladieu/World Bank

CHAPTER 5 INTERVENTIONS
66 A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA
the burden of school fees and setting limits on costs associated with school going.
Although progress was made in the DRC between 2003 and 2007 to accelerate
the education of girls, conflict since 2010 resulted in a decrease in the enrolment
rate for girls.8 The government of the DRC is providing support to some civil
society organisations so as to ensure that girls are able to access education.
Policies that allow for the expulsion of pregnant girls from schools or bar their
re-entry after giving birth impact negatively on girls’ retention in schools and fuel
child marriages, as girls are often expected to marry the men responsible for their
pregnancy. Article 11 of the African Children’s Charter provides for the protection of
pregnant girls and gives them the right to continue their education after giving birth.
The Addis Ababa Declaration on Population and Development in Africa underlines
these protections, calling on governments to create supportive environments that
allow for married and pregnant girls to stay in or return to school.9 Despite these
commitments, a number of countries still do not have clear policies around the
management of learner pregnancy. For example, although the Ugandan National
Examination Policy allows for pregnant girls to sit for their exams, it is unclear
8 OpenSocietyInitiativeforSouthernAfrica.2012.“CursedbyConict:EducationintheDRC”
available at http://www.osisa.org/education/blog/cursed-conict-education-drc (accessed 15
March 2015).
9 AddisAbabaDeclarationonPopulationandDevelopmentinAfricaBeyond2014availableat
http://icpdbeyond2014.org/pages/view/6-africa (accessed 16 March 2016).
UK Department for International Development

CHAPTER 5 INTERVENTIONS
A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA 67
whether they may attend classes. Similarly, while a 1993 policy established by the
Malawian Ministry of Education provides that mothers may return to school after
giving birth, they can only be readmitted once and only after they have sent written
requests to both the Ministry of Education and the school they wish to attend. In
South Africa, a 2007 National Pregnancy Prevention Measures made it permissible
for schools to exclude pregnant learners for a period of up to two years. This policy
was found to be unconstitutional and is currently being revised.
Where laws and policies do not provide clearly for the management of learner
pregnancy, they are often treated from a punitive and discriminatory perspective.
Generally, in the absence of laws and policies, boys are allowed to continue with
schooling after they become fathers but young mothers are alienated and preventing
from continuing with their education if they give birth. Kenya is a notable exception
in this regard and the Kenyan National School Health Policy articulates specific
actions that should be taken to support girls in returning to school after they have a
child.10 The policy encourage girls to stay in school for as long as possible and places
significant emphasis on counselling and the need to avoid emotional trauma. The
Gambian Women’s Act prohibits the expulsion of a female learner from a school on
account of her pregnancy. In terms of section 27, girls are allowed to take absence
from school during the period of pregnancy but must be afforded the opportunity
to return to school and may expressly not be expelled on account of the pregnancy.
5.3 Public education
Because there is often significant support for the practice of child marriage in
communities, the problem cannot be definitively tackled without changes in
attitude. Therefore many governments and NGOs, both international and
domestic, as well as local community groups, have put in place public education
and awareness-raising programmes to address attitudes.
In the Gambia, Uganda and Mozambique, the international NGO Save
the Children runs projects to help create awareness about child marriage.
Organisations in the Gambia, South Africa, Kenya, Mozambique and Uganda
have also joined the international organisation Girls not Brides, which aims to
coordinate the work of various NGOs in campaigning against child marriage.
In Uganda, the international NGO BRAC has set up youth clubs with the consent
of village leaders to provide a forum for girls to socialise, write songs and poetry,
play games and receive training in financial literacy, tailoring, agricultural and other
skills. These clubs facilitate the discussion of issues such as rape, family planning
10 KenyaNationalSchoolHealthPolicy2011to2015availableathttps://child.org/sites/default/
les/KenyaNationalSchoolHealthStrategy.pdf (accessed 16 March 2016).

CHAPTER 5 INTERVENTIONS
68 A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA
and contraception, with an overriding message that child marriage and early
pregnancy end in poverty. A mentor, who is a girl selected from the community and
trained by BRAC, heads the group discussion. The NGO Plan International has also
launched the campaign 18+ in four countries, including Malawi and Mozambique,
to encourage girls themselves to participate in advocacy for ending child marriage.
A Parliament for the Youth and the Child has been established in the DRC
and gives children the opportunity to express themselves on problems affecting
their lives. The aim is to build relations with relevant NGOs, political parties
and individuals in order to raise awareness about child rights. Also in the DRC,
the I denounce campaign aims to help women publicly discuss sexual violence.
In Kenya, the Co-exist Initiative, a community-based organisation, is working
with men and boys to eliminate all forms of gender-based violence. It focuses on
raising awareness of the harmful impact of child marriage through media and
entertainment, and also reaches out to traditional leaders and communities.
At the continental level, the approach of working with men and boys and
engaging traditional and religious leaders is widely endorsed. Commitments 9 and
10 of the Kigali Declaration support this approach and in the Common Position on
the AU’s Campaign to End Child Marriage, African Heads of State and Government
of the AU’s member states agreed on the need to promote the participation of
men, particularly fathers, and religious leaders in opposing child marriage.11 In
September 2015, African leaders joined other governments in adopting the UN
Sustainable Development Goals, which include a target to ending child marriage
by 2030. Declarations and political commitments which are issued collectively and
in the public eye can help to generate awareness about chid marriage and reinforce
legal commitment to ending it. However, following through on these commitments
requires that at the national level, promises are matched with comprehensive, well-
resourced, coordinated and sustained national strategies and action.12
In 2014, the government of Mali launched a wide scale national campaign
together with local organisations to sensitise the citizens of Mali on the root causes
and consequences of child marriage. Civil society also has a role to play and, in the
Gambia, have been active in generating public knowledge around child marriage.
11 Commitments 9 and 10 of the Kigali Declaration, adopted in May 2015 by national human rights
institutions in several commonwealth countries and available at http://thecommonwealth.org/
sites/default/les/press-release/documents/Early%20and%20Forced%20Marriage%20-%20
Kigali%20Declaration.pdf(accessed16March2016)andCommitment9oftheAfricanunion
CommonPositionontheAUCampaigntoEndChildMarriage,adoptedbyAfricanHeadsof
State and Government in July 2015 available at http://pages.au.int/cecm/documents/african-
common-position-au-campaign-end-child-marriage-africa (accessed 16 March 2016).
12 HumanRightsWatch,2015“Africa:StrengthenStepstoEndChildMarriage”availableathttps://
www.hrw.org/news/2015/12/09/africa-strengthen-steps-end-child-marriage (accessed 16 march
2016).

CHAPTER 5 INTERVENTIONS
A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA 69
The Child Protection Alliance conducts training for parents and communities and
produces fortnightly radio programmes. Through their child rights advocacy group,
Voice of the Young, children below 18 years are encouraged to advocate for the
promotion and protection of their rights. The Gambia Committee on Traditional
Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children undertakes advocacy on
sexual and reproductive health and rights and children’s rights, through community
sensitisation, action research, capacity building and training of community educators.
There have also been successful advocacy campaigns in Malawi. The Girls
Empowerment Network in Malawi (GENET) has implemented a widespread
advocacy campaign to call for the elimination of harmful traditional practices
that subject girls to sexual, emotional and physical abuse and violence. Through
collaborative effort, GENET has rescued several girls from forced marriages. The
UNFPA has worked with Malawi’s National Youth Council to lobby parliamentarians
in an effort that led to the adoption of legislation in 2015 that set 18 as the minimum
age of marriage. The campaign also resulted in a Joint United Nations Programme
on Adolescent Girls that supports the Malawian government and partners to target
girls at risk of child marriage for non-formal education, protection from violence,
IM Swedish Development Partner

CHAPTER 5 INTERVENTIONS
70 A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA
mentorship, and access to sexual and reproductive health and HIV services.
Through this programme, girls in the area of Masache in Chikhwawa district who
dropped out of school because of child marriage and pregnancy have been able
to resume their studies. Since its commencement in 2011, Senior Village Headman
Lombe boasts that no cases of child marriage in this area have been reported to
him. The National Youth Council of Malawi launched a ‘Stop early marriage’
campaign in 2009, alongside improved life-skills education in primary school, to
help girls make informed decisions about sexual health and help them remain in
school. ‘Mother Groups’ have also been established in Malawi to advocate for girls’
education in the community, and to influence policy decisions through lobbying.
In South Africa the Department of Social Development is the lead department
for the national multi-sectoral Child Protection Week campaign, during which
awareness is raised through educational talks, radio talks and promotional
materials. The campaign is specifically focused on marginalised communities. The
South African government has also produced radio campaigns on various topics,
including the Child Justice Act, to inform community members in their home
languages about the criminal justice system as it relates to children. In Uganda
in 2012, the UNFPA organised an online twitter discussion between officials
from the government, UNICEF and the UNFPA on issues of concern about girls,
including the issue of child marriage.
5.4 Poverty reduction and basic service delivery
Poverty, unemployment and child marriage create a vicious cycle in many
countries. Recognising these links, the governments of the Gambia and Uganda
have introduced initiatives to address poverty. National action plans to create
more jobs have been created, such as the Programme for Accelerated Growth and
Employment (PAGE) in the Gambia. Uganda and Kenya have also introduced
national action plans in the health domain to address issues such as HIV, and
these have the added benefit of combating some negative effects of child
marriage. In Uganda, the National Guidelines and Service Standards on Sexual
and Reproductive Health and Rights and the National Population Policy Action
Plan address the issue of responsible sexual behaviour and HIV and AIDS. Some
African countries appreciate the importance of sexual and reproductive health
and rights and have adopted policies to ensure that these rights are protected.
The Gambia Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women
and Children, for example, focuses on advocacy on sexual and reproductive
health and rights as well as children’s rights. In South Africa, the National
Adolescent Friendly Clinic Initiative is an attempt to make health care facilities,
and particularly reproductive health services, more accessible to young people.

CHAPTER 6:
RECOMMENDATIONS

A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA 73
CHAPTER 6: RECOMMENDATIONS
Child marriage is a complex issue and ending it requires that a range of stakeholders
address the multiple social and economic drivers that cause and perpetuate it.
Alongside stronger laws and policies to prevent child marriage, there is a need
for better implementation and enforcement of laws and policies and increased
public awareness about the risks and laws relating to child marriage. Recognising
that there are strong links between poverty and child marriage, the most recent
research and recommendations emphasise the need to address poverty and
suggest providing incentives to families and girls that delay marriage.1 These
approaches recognise that child marriage has roots in economic needs. The focus
of these recommendations is to address the difficult contexts in which families are
forced to make decisions about their daughters’ marriages.2 However, although
these recommendations emphasise the need to address economic drivers, they
also stress that it is important to address, simultaneously, the social drivers of
child marriage and the perceptions about women and girls in society that cause
harm.3
The recommendations set out below suggest a range of social and economic
interventions around prevention, protection and responses to child marriage.
Although these recommendations target specific stakeholders, it is important
to emphasise that for any of them to be effective, interventions must be well
coordinated, comprehensive (covering a range of social and economic drivers)
and adequately resourced.
1 Parsons,JandMcCleary-Sills,JfortheWorldBankGroup,2014“PreventingChildMarriage:
LessonsfromWorldBankGroupGenderImpactEvaluations”availableathttp://www.
worldbank.org/content/dam/Worldbank/document/Gender/enGENDER%20IMPACT%20-%20
Research%20Brief%20Early%20Marriage%2008.07.pdf(accessed17March2016)andsee
alsorecommendationsfollowingresearchconductedbythePopulationCouncilandreleasedin
2015“BuildinganEvidenceBasetoDelayMarriageinSub-SaharanAfrica”availableathttp://
www.popcouncil.org/research/building-an-evidence-base-to-delay-marriage-in-sub-saharan-
africa(accessed17March2016)andseealsoJain,SandKurz,KfortheInternationalCenter
forResearchonwomenonbehalfofPactInc,2007“NewInsightsonpreventingChildMarriage:
AGlobalAnalysisofFactorsandProgrammes”availableathttp://www.icrw.org/sites/default/
les/publications/New-Insights-on-Preventing-Child-Marriage.pdf(accessed16March2016).
2 PopulationCouncil,2015“NewResearchfromthePopulationCouncilShowsChildMarriage
Can be Delayed” available at http://www.popcouncil.org/news/new-research-from-the-
population-council-shows-child-marriage-can-be-delaye (accessed 16 March 2016).
3 Ibid.

CHAPTER 6 RECOMMENDATIONS
74 A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA
6.1 Recommendations for prevention
To prevent child marriages from occurring, it is recommended that:
•The African Union continues to take a leading role in promoting and
coordinating continental efforts to prevent child marriage. In addition, the
African Union should also deepen it’s role in promoting and protecting
women’s rights and development across the continent. The year 2016 has
been declared as the African Year of Human Rights with a Particular Focus
on the Rights of Women.4 Against this context, a number of campaigns
and efforts have been dedicated to pursue and support realisation of
the rights of women across Africa. The prevention of child marriage is
fundamental to this objective and should be a key priority until such time
that child marriage is totally eradicated.
At the state level, it is recommended that legislators and policy makers undertake
4 PressReleaseissuedbytheAfricanUnionavailableathttp://www.au.int/en/
pressreleases/19615/2016-african-year-human-rights-particular-focus-rights-women (accessed
August 2016).
Albert Gonzalez Farran/UNAMID

CHAPTER 6 RECOMMENDATIONS
A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA 75
law reform, whether through the enactment, amendment or harmonisation of laws
to prevent child marriage. These laws should meet the following requirements:
•Lawsshouldsettheminimumageofmarriageat18yearsforbothboys
and girls. This prohibition on child marriage must extend to all forms of
marriage, including customary and religious marriages, and no exceptions
or qualification to this minimum age should be tolerated.
•Wheresystemsoflaworlawswithinasystemareinconflict,theymustbe
harmonised.
•To aidinenforcingtheprohibitionagainstchildmarriage,nationallaws
must require and facilitate the registration of all births and marriages.
•Lawsandpoliciesmustsupportgirls’educationandencouragegirlstostay
in school for as long as possible and to return to school after pregnancy.
To ensure that laws and policies which prohibit child marriage are implemented
effectively, it is recommended that states:
•Improve mechanisms to facilitate birth and marriage registration,
including by making it free and accessible.
•Ensurethatallofficersofthestateareadequatelytrainedonissuesrelating
to child marriage. Marriage officers must be trained on the prohibition
against child marriage, marriage registration procedures and how to check
and require that parties to a marriage are 18 years or older. The police and
other law enforcement officers should be trained on how to prevent, react
and respond to potential child marriages. All relevant officers of the state
should be trained on where to refer parties at risk of or involved in a child
marriage. This includes referral to counseling, healthcare and other services
and legal and remedial actions that may be taken.
•Schoolteachersshouldbemadeawareoflawsrelatingtochildmarriageand
should be encouraged to (i) raise awareness amongst children and parents
about the illegal and harmful nature of child marriage and the benefits of
staying in school; (ii) report suspected child marriage; (iii) facilitate referral
to service providers; and (iv) encourage and help to facilitate girls re-entry
to schools following pregnancy.
It is further recommended that states take measures to enforce the prohibition
against child marriage and related offences. Enforcement measures should include:
•Strongpolicyframeworksthatprohibitchildmarriage.
•Facilitatingand enforcingtherequirementthat all birthsandmarriages
are registered.
•Monitoringdatatoensurethatchildmarriagesarenotbeingconcludedor

CHAPTER 6 RECOMMENDATIONS
76 A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA
registered and, if they are, taking action against marriage officers as required.
•Establishingstrongreferralmechanismsandastrongnetworkofservice
providers to respond to potential child marriages.
•Establishing specialised prosecutorial units to handle and resolve cases
of child marriage. These units may be most effective if they are based in
areas with high concentrations of child marriage.
•Judicialofficersshould be trained to enforce compliance with the legal
prohibition against child marriage.
•Tosupportenforcement,statesmustdesigncampaignsandinterventions
aimed at generating broad public awareness about the prohibition against
child marriage and actions that can be taken to enforce this prohibition.
State and independent media agencies should be engaged to support
information and public awareness campaigns and a variety of media
channels, including print media, television, radio and community radio
stations should be used.
Measures taken to enact, implement and enforce laws relating to child marriage
need to be supported by clear policies. Comprehensive National Action Plans
should be developed to serve as the primary policy guide for child marriage
prevention and response. National Action Plans should ensure that interventions
are coordinated and supported across all levels of state and non-state actors. It is
recommended that National Action Plans:
•Are developed collaboratively between representativesof the state, civil
society, nongovernmental organisations, national human rights institutions,
religious leaders, legislators, the judiciary, children at risk or affected by
child marriage and their families and any other relevant stakeholders.
•National Action Plans should be guided by the principle of the best
interests of the child, appropriate for the particular cultural context and
consistent with international and regional human rights law.
•NationalActionPlansshouldsetoutclearstrategiesto:
•Build awareness aboutchildmarriage, its impacts and thelawsthat
prohibit child marriage;
•Ensuretheavailabilityofcourtsinwhichvictimscanseekprotectionof
their rights;
•Encourage people to report child marriage and suspected child
marriage; and
•Train government officials, judicial officers, law enforcement officials,
teachers, health and other service providers, those working with
immigrants and asylum seekers and other relevant stakeholders on

CHAPTER 6 RECOMMENDATIONS
A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA 77
applicable laws and policies, how to identify girls at risk, how to respond
to suspected child marriage and how to address the needs of victims. A
core component of training programmes must be focused on training
civil status officers on the importance of marriage registration and the age
and consent requirements that are intended to prevent child marriage.
It is further recommended that through all relevant machinery, states undertake
institutional and other measures, including policy interventions, aimed at
preventing child marriage. To prevent child marriage, these measures should:
•Improvegirls’accesstoformaleducation andkeepgirlsinschool.Girls
should be encouraged to stay in school as long as possible and to return
to school after pregnancy. It is recommended that states consider schemes
like cash subsidies or free school uniforms to encourage girls and their
families to value girl’s education. Flexible timetabling is also recommended
where it may help to promote girls attendance in schools.
•Addresspovertyandinparticular,extendeconomicopportunitiestogirls
and families in areas where child marriage is highly prevalent. Investments
should be made in alternatives to child marriage that enhance the economic
and employment prospects of girls, such as building factories or schools.
•Addressgenderinequalityandeliminatediscriminationagainstwomen.
States should take measures which are aimed at changing attitudes and
beliefs that cause harm to women and girls. Discrimination, whether
in law or in fact, should not be tolerated and corrective measures and
positive action should be taken to combat it. Practices that perpetuate
child marriage must be tackled through advocacy, awareness raising and
community engagement.
•Ensure that adequate sexual and reproductive health services are
accessible and sufficient to meet the needs of adolescent girls. Services
should be complemented by comprehensive sexuality education policies.
•Improveondatacollectionefforts.Thelackofadatacollection,collation
and analysis system for child rights and protection issues was noted as
a concern in several of the countries analysed for this study. Adequate
and disaggregated data should be collected to inform planning and
programmatic interventions and it is urgent that states institute systems
that will make data more readily available. Data, which is disaggregated
by age, gender and other relevant characteristics, should be collected on
marriage, birth, school attendance and health indicators. This data should
be reviewed regularly to inform programme revisions and should be
submitted to relevant treaty bodies on a regular basis.

CHAPTER 6 RECOMMENDATIONS
78 A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA
•Similarly,monitoringandevaluationmechanismsatthestatelevel,which
are often weak or inadequate, can help to determine the efficiency and
cost-effectiveness of programmes, projects and other measures taken by
state and non-state actors to prevent child marriage. Effective monitoring
and evaluation mechanisms should be established and should be
adequately resourced at all levels, including at the local level in particular.
•Develophotlinesasalowcostmechanismthatcouldassistgreatlyinthe
detection and prevention of child marriages.
•Before,duringandafterconflict,developspecialprotectivemeasuresto
prevent children from child marriage.
National Human Rights Institutions (NHRI’s) should also take an active role in
preventing child marriages. It is recommended that NHRI’s:
•Handlecomplaintsandcarryoutinvestigationsrelatingtochildmarriage.
•Help to generate public awareness about the need for a prohibition
against child marriage and the legal position on child marriage.
•Facilitate dialogue and engagement at the community level, in
collarboation with religious and traditional leaders to encourage
acceptance of the prohibition and to emphasise the benefits of delayed
marriage, continued education and sexual and reproductive good health.
•Assistinreferralstorelevantserviceproviders.
The role of non-state actors in the prevention of child marriage cannot be
overstated. It is recommended that civil society organisations, technical, financial
and development partners, religious and traditional leaders, community based
organisations and academic and research institutions:
•AligntheireffortswithNationalActionPlans.
•Continuetoprovidetechnicaland financial supporttoeffortsaimedat
ending child marriage, it’s causes and its consequences.
•Help to build broad momentum and public awareness about child
marriage and the campaign to end it, through media, social media,
churches, schools and other networks and communities.
•Undertake legal advocacy if laws do not conform to international and
regional standards.
•Assistindatacollection,monitoring, researchandevaluation,including
in relation to the cost and efficacy of different prevention programmes
and assist in promoting best practice.
•In relation to academics and research institutions in particular, generate
academic interest in understanding the causes and consequences of child

CHAPTER 6 RECOMMENDATIONS
A REPORT ON CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICA 79
marriage and build a stronger research, theory and evidence base on child
marriage.
•Ensure that collective prevention efforts address both the social and
the economic causes of child marriage. In particular, priority should be
given to projects aimed at promoting girls’ education as an approach to
preventing marriage.
•Challengetherationale forchildmarriageatthe communitylevel.This
recommendation is aimed especially at traditional and religious leaders
who have enormous potential to challenge the hearts and minds of
communities.
•Engagewithmenandboysandemphasisethevalueandstatusofwomen
and girls.
6.2 Recommendations for protection
The focus on preventing child marriage should not detract from addressing the
needs of children who were forced into marriage. To protect the needs of children
who have already been forced into marriage, it is recommended that:
•Statesmustensurethatthesexualandreproductivehealthrightsofgirls
who marry young are a top priority. This is critical noting that the risk of
complications relating to pregnancy and child birth is significantly higher
among girls who marry young. Girls must be able to access sexual and
reproductive health services and must be promoted and encouraged to
do so. Family planning services must be in place to give women and girls
the ability to decide on the number and spacing of children.
•States must take measures to protect all people and especially women
from domestic violence. Child marriage exposes girls to an increased risk
of domestic and sexual violence and states must ensure that victims of
violence or abuse have access to protective, healthcare, counseling and
other services. Non state actors should also assist, by providing services
and promoting redress for victims of domestic and sexual violence.
•Stateandnon-stateactorsshoulddesignsafetynetsandmechanismsforthe
victims of child marriage. Shelters and safety schemes should provide girls
with a safe space for counseling and should encourage girls to seek justice,
redress, healthcare and other services and continue with their education.
•Duringandafterconflict,specialeffortshouldbemadebystateandnon
state actors alike to ensure that sexual and gender based crimes that occur
during times of conflict, including forced and child marriages, are not
treated with impunity.

ANNEXURE 1: RESEARCH TEMPLATE FOR COUNTRY
LEVEL CHILD MARRIAGES STUDIES
1. Background
Country overview/situational analysis (to include women’s/girls human rights
challenges generally, prevalence of early and forced marriage):
2. International and regional human rights obligations
2.1 Ratification of international human rights treaties
2.2 Status of state reporting
2.3 Relevant jurisprudence of UN treaty bodies (includes COs, general
comments, reports of special mechanisms) and ACHPR
3. Legal framework
3.1 General: women’s and children’s rights in the constitution and other laws
3.2 Laws relating to early and forced marriage
 •Minimumageofmarriageandageofconsentandexceptions
 •Sanctions
 •Remedies
4. Policies and National Plans of Action
5. Enforcement and monitoring mechanisms (judicial and institutional)
6. Case law
7. Customary and religious law and traditional Practices
7.1 Status of customary/religious law in the country
7.2 Laws, practices or beliefs that promote (enable? perpetuate?) early and
forced marriages
8. Access to formal education
8.1 Progress on MDG 3 (and relevant data)
8.2 Relevant laws and policies
8.3 Challenges
9. Sexual and reproductive health rights
9.1 Progress on MDG 5 (and relevant data)
9.2 Access to pre- and post-natal health care
9.3 Access to contraceptives
9.4 Access to HIV prevention, treatment and care services
9.5 Sexuality education
9.6 Challenges
10. Promising interventions (that can be considered for replication)
10.1 Empowering girls
10.2 Sensitising parents, community members and traditional/religious leaders
10.3 Strengthening access to, and quality of, education for girls
10.4 Economic support and incentives
10.5 Legal interventions