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ZAMBIA - LEGAL CASE HIGHLIGHTS CHILD
MARRIAGE RIGHTS VIOLATIONS
Lillian Banda – Women News Network – WNN
Rural Zambian girls face
physical dangers when being forced to marry at a young age. Image: Saraat
(WNN)
In April 2011, the then14-year-old Mwale was told by
her aunt and other family members that she had no choice; she must get married
right away. She was also told she must immediately stop attending school so she
could care for her husband and his family.
At the time, as an orphan with no parents, Mwale
was living with her grandmother in the rural region outside the Zambian city of
What started as an unfair advantage had been set.
A 31-year-age-difference between the husband and his young wife marked a
troubled, unequal and illegal marriage.
A few days later, Mwale’s husband was arrested and
charged with ‘defilement of a minor’ after neighbors in Ng’ombe became aware,
then alarmed, as they reported the matter to the local police. Following the
husband’s detention three others involved with the forced marriage were also
arrested.
“Child marriage is a fundamental violation of
human rights,” said Mutegaya B. Julius in a October 2010 report from
the
“My aunt forced me to get married saying that a
husband would take care of me and my grandmother as well,” recounts Mwale.
Psychological damage for girls who are forced into
early marriage affect all aspects of a girl’s life. Girls who marry early can
experience depression, fear and vulnerability, lack of personal protection,
sexual abuse, sexual exploitation and extremely low self-esteem.
Although many countries have child protection laws
that set the minimum age of marriage to 18 years without parental consent, a
number of countries continue to struggle with the enforcement of these laws,
including Zambia, who’s legal age for marriage (without consent) is 21.
“…discrimination against women is rooted in
[Zambia]’s customary law, and it is so serious that it amounts to a breach of
both their human and natural rights,” said a 2007 OMCT (World Organisation Against Torture)
shadow report, “Human Rights Violations in Zambia,” presented to the 90th
session of the United Nations Human Rights Committee in Geneva.
With a parent or guardian’s consent, marriage of
girls between the age of 16-20 in
An age difference of over 30 years between a young
girl bride and her older spouse brings with it an imbalance of power that can
lead to drastic levels of inequality for girls. With little power inside the
marriage, domestic violence can occur as girls are often considered with
dowries the ‘purchased property’ of a husband.
Forced unwanted sex with an older partner along
with a lack of birth control is also an ongoing problem.
“The payment of bride price (malobolo)
and the practice of early marriages under customary law in Zambia may have the
effect of increasing the vulnerability of women and girls to violence at the
hands of their husbands and parents-in-law,” continues Children in Need
advocate Mutegaya Julius.
In 2007 in the rural
A
The offer came as a 50,000 Zambian kwacha ($10
USD) dowry. The marriage had one condition; that Gertrude’s schooling could not
reach past the 7th grade. Because of the intent to marry and the dowry
arrangement district Judge Philip Chisenga agreed; the charges of rape would be
legally dropped.
Health consequences are also a tangible impact
affecting those who marry early. Higher HIV rates and higher maternal mortality
rates are found among the youngest Zambian wives.
“Adolescent mothers suffer from higher rates of
maternal mortality and morbidity and are particularly vulnerable to
pregnancy-related conditions such as anemia, obstetric fistula, and
post-childbirth septic infections…,” said a recent May 2011 statement by the UN
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) during the 49th
session of CEDAW – the
Committee on the Elimination of the Discrimination Against Women.
In adolescent pregnancy many young girls have
bodies with hips that are not yet wide enough to deliver a baby. This can
create a condition during childbirth known as ‘obstructed labor’ which can
cause a youth to not only lose her baby while giving birth, but to lose her own
life during childbirth as well.
Other dangers for girls in pregnancy include
anemia, obstetric fistula and possible complications from unsafe abortion
procedures.
Compared with women who are 20 years-of-age or
older, girls who are age 10–14 are five to seven times more likely to die
during childbirth. Girls who are 15–19 years old are twice as likely to die (UN
2006).
Evelyn Mwale’s marriage to a much older man placed
her directly in the line of danger on both physical and psychological levels. While
a grown woman finds it hard to tell her husband she does not want to have sex,
a teenage girl has much more trouble just saying no; and especially asking an
older husband to use condoms for birth control. The practice of ‘safe-sex’ is
often a total mystery.
The Zambian belief that being married brings
‘virtue’ and will keep one safe and unlikely to contract HIV/AIDS, and other
sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), is a double standard for many girls who
are forced to have sex with an older husband who often has had numerous sexual
partners in the past.
While Evelyn’s situation has been difficult it is
better than many other young married girls who have no one to save them. Mwale
has been lucky. She is one of the ones who found rescue in her situation. But
how many other cases of early marriage continue to go unreported and unrescued
in Zambia’s most remote regions? And how many girls go without rescue
worldwide?
The answer to these questions are unknown. There
is currently no accurate way to compile separate data on child marriage in
rural Zambia. The little data available is often placed in reports next to a
variety of sexual problems and conditions.
Most government laws and policies are
“child-blind” says Judith Mulenga, Executive Director of the Zambia Civic
Education Association (ZCEA).
“…politics in Zambia do not put children first,” added Mulenga. “Laws do not
give equal protection to all citizens including children and there is chronic
under-funding to national budget programmes that are meant to provide for the
country’s most vulnerable children’s basic needs.”
In collaboration with numerous local
community-based organizations ZCEA has been conducting local trainings and
workshops on human rights and children’s rights in many of
“The aim of this project is to have a nation where
children’s rights are respected and upheld by all,” says ZCEA. Without
enforcement of current laws, legislative measures to protect and empower rural
girl children in Zambia still has a very long way to go.
“The absence of a social security policy for poor
children and the consistent low allocation to social services demonstrates the
lack of this government’s commitment to the realisation of children’s rights,”
added Judith Mulenga.
The criminal case for Evelyn Mwale’s forced
marriage is now in process toward its final legal decision. Moved from the
courts in
Current Zambian Penal Code Admendment Act of 2003
which prohibits sex with anyone under the age of 16 brings with it a minimum
sentence of 14 years imprisonment.
“The huge number of women who are illiterate and
as a result are unable to claim their rights” is a factor that “inhibits
progress,” said