Campaign To End Child Marriages In Ghana 

NEWS COMMENTARY ON THE LAUNCH OF NATIONAL CAMPAIGN TO END CHILD MARRIAGES IN GHANA 

Ghana yesterday took a giant step towards ending what President Mahama described as the most obnoxious cultural practice of the 21st century. The phenomenon of child marriage has been with us since time immemorial. This is a global socio-cultural problem that cuts across countries, cultures, religions and ethnicities. Child brides can be found in every region in the world, from the Middle East to Latin America, South Asia to Europe. Statistics show that each year, 15 million girls are married before they attain the age of 28 and are denied their rights to health, education and opportunity, and robbed of their childhood. It is estimated that if nothing is done to curb this practice, by the year 2030, the figure will increase to 15.4 million girls marrying each year.  That translates to 28 girls marrying every minute. Child brides are often disempowered, dependent on their husbands and deprived of their fundamental rights to health, education and safety.  Because these girls are not physically or emotionally ready to become wives and mothers, they stand the risk of experiencing dangerous complications in pregnancy and childbirth, and suffering domestic violence.  It is said that, 700 million women living today were married as girls before their 18th birthday. The fear is, if the practice persists, an additional 1.2 billion girls will be married by 2050.  A shocking revelation is that some child brides are as young as eight or nine years.  The good news though is that, with global initiatives and advocacy, the trend seems to be slowly declining.  This is not time to be complacent. We need to double up our efforts. 

Organisations such as Child not Bride, UNICEF, UNFPA and the Organisation of African First Ladies, OAFLA under the leadership of Mrs. Lordina Mahama must be supported and encouraged in their fight to end child marriages. At the launch of Ghana's campaign, it was reassuring to see a wide range of personalities and organisations represented. This goes a long way to show that everyone is concerned about this backward practice. In this era of enlightenment, everybody, male or female, young or old, literate or illiterate, rich or poor must be given the freedom to choose his or her partner as and when he or she desires it. The days of child betrothal are gone and be made to remain in the dustbin of history. In discussing this very important topic, we must not lose sight of the fact that boys are also involved, although girls are disproportionately the most affected. Statistics shows that 33 million men today were married before the age of 15 and as of September 2014, 156 million before the age of 18. According to UNFPA, factors that promote and reinforce child marriage include poverty and economic survival strategies; gender inequality; sealing land or property deals or settling disputes; control over sexuality and protecting family honour; tradition and culture; and insecurity, particularly during war, famine or epidemics. Other factors include family ties in which marriage is a means of consolidating powerful relations between families. 

The complex mix of cultural and economic factors that are at play go to re-enforce the point that there cannot be a single, simple solution to this canker. We must recognise that the practice does not affect only the individuals involved, but also the state also loses out on the full potential of these youths when they are forced to truncate their education. Child marriage must also be seen as a developmental challenge. Of course, it is said that the world cannot achieve six out of the eight Millennium Development Goals if the practice continues. It is therefore not surprising that, many countries missed out on the MDGs targets by the stipulated time. There are also human rights violations in the continued practice of child marriage. The right to ‘free and full’ consent to a marriage is recognised in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In this same vein, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women prohibits child marriage.  Under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, governments have committed to ensuring the overall protection of children and young people under the age of 18.  Ghana and many other countries are signatories to these international conventions, they must therefore put them into practice. That is why the call by the first lady, Mrs Lordina Mahama for governments to put in place legislation to deal with this canker is in the right direction. It is also refreshing that the President has also pledged his personal commitment towards ending the practice.

BY: BUBU KLINOGO, A JOURNALIST.