News / National
Early child marriage unchanged - RAU
28 Apr 2014 at 02:14hrs | Views
RECENT research findings by local think-tank Research and Advocacy Unit (RAU) have revealed that although government has ratified most international human rights instruments to curb early child marriages, the scourge has continued unabated as the majority of the instruments have not been domesticated.
Some of the instruments include the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (Cedaw), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) ratified in 1990 and 1991, the African Charter on the Rights and the Welfare of the Child and the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights.
Said RAU in its report titled Let Them Grow First: Early Marriages in Zimbabwe: "The challenge, however, remains the full domestication of these instruments. In 2007, there was the landmark passing of the Domestic Violence Act chapter 5:16 (Act 14/2006) which recognised a series of harmful practices, including child marriage and child pledging, and made them illegal."
Until last year, Zimbabwe's Constitution defined a child as aged 16 years and below, but the new Constitution altered the definition in line with the international and regional stipulation of 18 years.
"Furthermore, the right to free and compulsory education was only enshrined in the new Constitution in 2013. Previously, there was no right to education, making the practice of child marriage and its impact on the right to education non-justiciable for the girl child," the think-tank said.
Apostolic churches have been accused of promoting child marriages, but the Apostolic Christian Council of Zimbabwe (ACCZ) has been working with the Police's Victims Friendly Unit (VFU) in campaigns against child marriage.
"We have now partnered the Victims Friendly Unit and we will move around the country at this year's Easter holiday church gatherings to tell leaders of apostolic churches that it is a criminal offence to marry under-age girls," Bishop Johannes Ndanga of the ACCZ said.
According to the RAU report, over 30% of girls in Zimbabwe get married before reaching 18 years, with poverty, religious practices and forced marriage cited as major push factors.
Some of the instruments include the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (Cedaw), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) ratified in 1990 and 1991, the African Charter on the Rights and the Welfare of the Child and the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights.
Said RAU in its report titled Let Them Grow First: Early Marriages in Zimbabwe: "The challenge, however, remains the full domestication of these instruments. In 2007, there was the landmark passing of the Domestic Violence Act chapter 5:16 (Act 14/2006) which recognised a series of harmful practices, including child marriage and child pledging, and made them illegal."
Until last year, Zimbabwe's Constitution defined a child as aged 16 years and below, but the new Constitution altered the definition in line with the international and regional stipulation of 18 years.
"Furthermore, the right to free and compulsory education was only enshrined in the new Constitution in 2013. Previously, there was no right to education, making the practice of child marriage and its impact on the right to education non-justiciable for the girl child," the think-tank said.
Apostolic churches have been accused of promoting child marriages, but the Apostolic Christian Council of Zimbabwe (ACCZ) has been working with the Police's Victims Friendly Unit (VFU) in campaigns against child marriage.
"We have now partnered the Victims Friendly Unit and we will move around the country at this year's Easter holiday church gatherings to tell leaders of apostolic churches that it is a criminal offence to marry under-age girls," Bishop Johannes Ndanga of the ACCZ said.
According to the RAU report, over 30% of girls in Zimbabwe get married before reaching 18 years, with poverty, religious practices and forced marriage cited as major push factors.
Source - NewsDay
