The African Union –AU- has commended President Edgar Lungu for his continued commitment and efforts to end child marriage at National,Continental and Global level.
African Union Commissioner for social Affairs Amira Mohamed Elfadil praised President Lungu who is African Union Champion for supporting the AU Campaign on ending Child Marriage and for bringing visibility
to the work of the campaign.
Ms Elfadil said the high level political engagement and action by President Lungu was critical to accelerating an end to child marriage.
‘’Africa holds the highest rates of child marriage globally. Around 4 out of every 10 girls on the continent are married before the age of eighteen. Six of the ten countries with the highest numbers of child
marriage prevalence are here on the continent,’’ she said.
The AU Commissioner for Social Affairs said it was unfortunate that poverty was one of the drivers of child marriage in Africa.
‘’Poverty has a wide impact on child marriages. Statistics indicate that girls from poor families are three times most likely to get married early than those from well up to do families’’, she said.
Ms Elfadil who added that child marriage was a leading cause of maternal mortality and morbidity on the continent said this during an open session for the African Union Peace and Security Council being
chaired by Zambia.
‘’ We are talking about girls across the continent who are unable to enjoy their full rights to health and nutrition, education , a life free of violence and the right to choose when and who they will marry.’’ She added.
She further said the African Union viewed child marriage as a cross cutting problem and recognized that it was a security, developmental, political, religious and gender inequality issue.
And Chairing the Peace and Security Council Open Session, Zambia’s Ambassador to Ethiopia, Susan Sikaneta noted that it was disheartening that global incidences of child marriage remained high despite child marriage being prohibited in numerous human rights instruments such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against women and the
Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child.
Ms Sikaneta who is also Zambia’s Permanent representative to the African Union noted that the major driver of child marriage in Africa was conflict.
‘’We see violations directly linked to child marriage in conflict situations. These include attacks on schools by armed groups , which lead to abduction of girls who are abused in all sorts of ways and eventually made pregnant or forced into marriage,’’ she said.
She called on the PSC to come up with strategies to eradicate child marriage on the continent as it had a negative impact on the girl child and was considered a major hindrance to the development of the continent.
The Ambassador however noted that progress had so far been made since the launch of the continental campaign to Ending Early Child Marriage in May by the African Union.
She said to date 24 out of 30 countries including Zambia that were selected by the AU for the campaign had launched their campaigns which were essential for enhancement of advocacy against child marriage at
National level.
Ms Sikaneta emphasized the need to place great importance on implementing the policy of keeping girls in school as a significant factor in ending Child Marriage.
She said the condemnation of the girls who fall pregnant and are denied the opportunity to go back to school while men continued with school was grossly unfair and an injustice that could not be allowed
to continue.
‘’This practice is tantamount to condemning the girls to a bleak future. This council which has the responsibility to ensure a peaceful and secure future for everyone must consider an appropriate recommendation to correct this injustice,’’ she said.
She proposed that the Peace Agenda for the continent should be gender sensitive, and ending child marriage was one programme where human security and positive peace were guaranteed for girls to enjoy their rights free from social and cultural pressures of being forced to get into something they were not ready for.
The open session of the Peace and Security Council attracted many stakeholders that included AU Member states, Regional bodies and civil society organizations.
UNICEF Representative to the African Union Dr Edward Adayi commended Zambia for coming up with a session on ending Child marriage in Africa.
He said the problem of Child Marriage needed concerted efforts from all stakeholders if the scourge was to be eradicated.
Dr Adayi called on the abolition of traditional practices that encouraged child marriage.
He also urged African countries to domesticate the approved AU 18 years legal age limit for marriage.
SAVE THE CHILDREN Director Doris Mpumu said the agenda to ending child marriage must be priority for all African Nations.
She expressed concern at the slow pace of implementation of policies on ending child marriage.
The European Union praised President Lungu for efforts in ending child marriage and pledged its continued funding to programmes aimed at eradicating the vice.
This is contained in a statement issued by First Secretary (Press &Tourism) Embassy of the Republic of Zambia, ETHIOPIA Inutu Mwanza
