Parents in the firing line as child marriage continues

EVEN after education and sensitization on gender issues, some parents are still defiant. Last week, a 15 yearold school girl escaped narrowly from marrying a 40 year-old man in Pemba.

The parents had already received dowry for their daughter, saying her performance in school was poor and the only option in her life was for her to get married. The young girl (her name and school withheld) is now in Unguja, where a family member has decided to protect her from getting married and the guardian has decided to help her resume and continue with her education.

It was the same week when the police released statistics about the level of Gender- Based Violence (GBV) in the country including underage marriage. A section of the media was quoted as saying that over two-thousand cases were recorded between January and July this year.

Despite on-going campaign through seminars, village awareness programmes and the call for improvement of law against it, the police and activists say the abuse escalates and child marriage remains a problem.

According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) underage marriage is attributed to persistent poverty, gender inequality, traditions, insecurity, religion pretext and ignorance.

In Zanzibar corruption and outdated laws like the 1,500/= fine penalty for parents found guilty of backing the marriage of their underage children, are other problems that hinder war against the practice.

It is estimated that in developing countries, one in every three girls is married before reaching age 18. One in nine is married under age 15, but activist argue that most of the underage marriage are unreported.

In many countries, child marriage is prohibited, but existing laws are often not enforced or provide exceptions for parental consent or traditional and customary laws. The government here released statistics extracted from the ‘Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) report of 2015/2016 that child pregnancies have increased to 27.1 percent from 24.1 percent recorded in 2010.

Minister of Finance and Planning Dr Khalid Salum Mohamed said in July that 57 percent of the girls capable to conceive, are unaware of methods for safe sex and about quarter of the girls willing to use family planning cannot access the services.

He said that a report from the Islands’ Ministry of Education and Vocational Training says 40 school pregnancies were recorded in 2014/2015 while 32 cases of underage marriage involving students were confirmed during the same year.

Globally, each year, 15 million girls are married before the age of 18, which means that 28 girls every minute and one gets married in every two seconds! Many people are already frustrated with the disturbing data, from the police, anti GBV organizations and the office of Chief Government statistician and now have turned to search for solution to end the problems as they press authorities to find a way to safeguard female children from abuse and underage marriage.

‘Girls Not Brides’ a global partnership of more than 600 Civil Society Organizations (CBOs) committed to ending child marriage and enabling girls to fulfill their potential, argues that worldwide, the rate of child marriage are slowly declining but progress isn’t happening fast enough.

The CBOs say “By working together, we can turn commitments to ending child marriage into a reality and create lasting change for millions of girls.” In support of the fresh views aiming at ending child marriage, activists here have launched powerful way to address the child abuses and marriage through drama and poetry.

At the rare type of ‘festival’ held in Nungwi coastal village, North Unguja, students gathered and performed drama, traditional dances, songs and poetry depicting consequences of child abuse and underage marriage.

Through poems, plays and songs students expressed their feeling about the escalating child and forced marriage saying awareness and tougher laws are required to help minimize the practice. Tanzania Media Women Association (TAMWA)-Zanzibar, one of the activist organizations in the forefront in the war against child abuse, organized the event involving students.

The Gender Equality and Women Empowerment (GEWE) II, Twelve-months project funded by Denmark, the event also attended by other stakeholders, focused on empowering youth to take an active role in stopping child marriage, mainly by exposing parents who force them into marriage.

Ms Grace Ngonyani- programme coordinator (TAMWA) said the show aimed at increasing awareness among children and parents to understand the consequences of child marriage.

“We appeal to girls, women, religious and community leaders, civil society and human rights groups to join forces to stop the social menace. It is possible to protect our children from marriage, for their better future,” Ms Ngonyani said.

She reminded parents, members of the society, and ‘Men who marry underage women’ that helping children, particularly girls finish school, and later get employed or have skills for self-employment, remain crucial for the communities and country in getting out of poverty.

Ms Maudline Cyrus Castico, Minister for Labour, Empowerment, Elderly, Youth, Women and Children underage marriage and pregnancies have serious consequences on the female teenagers/Children which include maternal mortality, Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs), high drop out in schools and psychological problems.

She said to parents and teachers in schools and religious classes can play a big role in ending child marriage and abuse, but it is unfortunate that “Parents often fail to discuss sex or reproductive health with their children, and, at school.”

Many young girls, like Ms Khadija Omar, find themselves in difficult situations because of inadequate information to help them have the courage of refusing to get married or engaged in sexual relation out of wedlock. “Such gathering for students to speak about ourselves is important in villages and even in for the schools because we get educated through drama and exchange of experience,” said the student Ms Omar.

The International Centre for Research on Women (ICRW), an International NGO based in the USA say, of the 15 countries where the rate of child marriage is over 30 percent, nine are in West and Central Africa, with Niger having the highest rates in the world.

Researchers says that despite increasing attention and programmatic efforts to address child marriage and adolescent pregnancy in Sub-Saharan Africa in recent years, little has been done to identify what factors lead to changes in attitudes and behaviours. Experts define Child marriage as “marriage before age 18, which devastates the lives of girls, their families and their communities.” The practice often occurs in poor, rural communities.

In many regions, parents arrange their daughter’s marriage unknown to the girl. It means that one day, she may be at home playing with her siblings and the next, day she’s married off and sent to live in another village with her husband.

She is pulled out of school, separated from her peers and once married, she is more likely to be a victim of domestic violence and suffer health complications associated with early sexual activity and childbearing.

As researchers, experts and activists focus on how to prevent and ultimately end the practice, they warn that if there is no reduction in child marriage, the global number of child brides will reach 1.2 billion girls by 2050, with devastating consequences for girls, their families and their countries.

DAILY NEWS