By DARLINGTON MWENDABAI Alex Tembo of Luangeni in Eastern Province is among the many child couples. He married Mervious Banda when he was 17 and she was 14. “I was in Grade Nine (9) while my wife was in Grade Seven (7) when I impregnated her in 2011. I was 17 then and my wife was 14 when I was made to pay a cow and today, we have a child,” one teenage husband told First Lady Christine Kaseba. The trend prompted Dr Kaseba recently to launch a countrywide campaign against child marriages with a call to end the scourge which can rob children especially girls, an opportunity to become leaders in life. Dr Kaseba visited eight young couples aged between 15 and 19 in Chipata’s Luangeni village in the company of cabinet ministers and deputy ministers and other stakeholders. Her campaign trail led her to several one room grass thatched houses whose bed space is mostly a curtain which demarcates the ‘sitting room’ where guests are welcomed. Child marriages remain a challenge that requires to be addressed urgently if Zambia and indeed other countries have to protect more than 140 million girls from becoming child brides by 2020. Dr Kaseba has since launched an aggressive campaign against the vice. More than 140 million girls may become child brides if the practice is not stopped between now and 2020, according to United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). And if current global levels of child marriages continues, 14.2 million girls annually or 39 000 daily will marry too young. UNFPA says 140 million girls may marry before they are 18 years old while 50 million may be under the age of 15. Child marriage is defined as marriage before the age of 18 and applies to both boys and girls, although the practice usually affects young girls. Dr Kaseba also discovered that one young couple got married in April 2011 at 17 and 15 while they were in Grade Six (6). Many other young couples told similar tales and were encouraged to go back to school to acquire knowledge and life skills for economic empowerment. “Government will help you choose what help you want but you should know that education will help you keep yourselves and children. Various ministries will look into your needs and help you according to your needs,” Dr Kaseba said. She noted the conflict between customary laws which allow one to marry at 16 years as she or he is considered an adult while the statutory law considers someone an adult at 18. Dr Kaseba said there is need to harmonise customary and statutory laws to avoid conflicting definitions. She said ending child marriages can help Zambia achieve other millennium development goals (MDGs) aimed at eradicating poverty, achieving universal education and combating HIV/AIDS and malaria, among other diseases. Paramount Chief Mpezeni joined the crusade and urged all traditional leaders to ‘root out’ child marriages in their chiefdoms. He also encouraged child couples to go back to school. “I created a scholarship fund to help vulnerable children to reduce the high rate of early child marriage by sponsoring them to go back to school,” Chief Mpezeni said. He also urged government to allow chiefs punish those marrying off children at a tender age and called for the construction of more schools in the affected areas. The ministry of Chiefs and Traditional Affairs has since strategised on how to curb early marriages. “In view of this, my ministry has decided to put a three year plan to campaign against early child marriage which contributes to a series of negative consequences both for young girls and boys,” said minister of Chiefs and Traditional Affairs Nkandu Luo. The campaign against early child marriage is being done in partnership with other government institutions such as Ministry of Gender and Child Development. It also includes the ministry of Ministry of Education, Science, and Vocational Training and Early Education; Ministry of Community Development, Mother and Child Health; Ministry of Health, civil society organisations and development partners. “Apart from this act being a violation of human rights in general and of girls and boys rights in particular, it has profound physical, intellectual, psychological and emotional impact.” Prof Luo said. She said early child marriages are a form of gender based violence (GBV) with serious sexual and reproductive health consequences coupled with negative effects of dropping out of school at a tender age. Eastern Province Minister Malozo Sichone also noted that early marriages are on the increase and the youth are vulnerable to HIV/AIDS due to unprotected sex. Mr Sichone said the youth are exposed to multiple sexual partners at an early age and that the launch against early child marriage campaign in the province is timely. US Agency for International Development (USAID) mission director Susan Brems said educating girls is key to development in many countries. Ms Brems said uneducated girls are likely to get pregnant and forced into early marriages risking their health and making them potential victims of GBV. According to the UNICEF, complications from pregnancy and childbirth are the leading causes of death for girls aged between 15 and 19 years in developing countries. “Of the 16 million adolescent girls who give birth every year, about 90 percent are already married,” it states. UNICEF estimates that some 50 000 girls die, mostly from low- and middle-income countries. Still births and newborn deaths are 50 percent higher among mothers under 20 than in women who get pregnant in their 20s. Research has however shown that, child marriage, which has apparently existed for centuries, is a complex issue, rooted deeply in gender inequality, tradition and poverty. UNFPA Executive Director Babatunde Osotimehin describes child marriages as an appalling violation of human rights which robs girls of their education, health and long-term prospects. More than one third of young women are married by their 18th birthday with nearly half the number of young women in Sub-Saharan Africa affected. The 10 countries with the highest rates of child marriage are: Niger, 75 percent, Chad and Central African Republic, 68 percent; Bangladesh, 66 percent, Guinea, 63 percent; Mozambique, 56 percent; Mali, 55 percent; Burkina Faso and South Sudan, 52 percent; and Malawi, 50 percent. In the case of Zambia, child marriages do not only occur between some adults and minors but between children as well. Young and naïve, the teens are however not shy to explain their case.
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