SADC Parliamentary Forum Urges Members of Parliament to prioritise the domestication of the Model Law on Eradicating Child Marriage

SADC Parliamentary Forum Secretary General, Boemo Sekgoma has urged Members of Parliament from SADC Countries to prioritise the domestication of the Model Law on Eradicating Child Marriage and Protecting Children already in marriage.

Speaking at David Livingstone Lodge in Livingstone on the sidelines of the 56th SADC Parliamentary Forum Plenary Assembly, Ms. Sekgoma further urged Members of Parliament to advocate for budgets and policies to ensure financing and implementation of strategies to end child marriage in order not to render nugatory, the work which has gone into the development of the Model Law.

Ms. Sekgoma said that early, and forced marriage remains a challenge in the Southern African region which has continued to undermine the rights of millions of children which continues to threaten sustainable development.   

She said that child marriage was prevalent in even where legislation is in place, because mechanisms for enforcing the law were lacking.

Ms. Sekgoma bemoaned the high rates of child marriage in the World, with an estimated 31% of young women and children being married before the age of 18 in the Eastern and Southern African region.

“The Eastern and Southern African region still has some of the highest rates of child marriage in the world, with an estimated 31% of young women and children being married before the age of 18. Evidence shows that the phenomenon of child, early, and forced marriage remains a pressing challenge in our region, undermining the rights of millions of children, especially girls, and threatening the sustainable development of our nation,” the Secretary General said.

Ms. Sekgoma hailed the SADC Model law as a milestone which provides a comprehensive gold standard to anchor SADC Member States’ efforts to harmonise national legislation, policies, and practices with international and regional human rights standards on child rights and child protection.

She said that while ssignificant progress has been made towards addressing child, early, and forced marriages in the SADC region, and most SADC Member States have formal laws that set the minimum age of marriage at between 18 and 21 years, there still remained a myriad of conflicting laws, which include customary and religious laws which allow for parental consent to reduce the minimum age to as low as 14 years.

Ms. Sekgoma said that protection of girls and young women will not only require a harmonised legislative framework taking into account both formal laws and customs, but also educating communities on girls’ rights and the inherent health risks that include early pregnancies and gender-based violence.

And First Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of Zambia, Hon. Malungo Chisangano said that Zambia has made progress towards eradicating child marriage as evidenced by the adoption of strategic policy documents and the national prevention response plan on ending violence against children (2021-2024).

Hon. Chisangano said that this is in addition to aligning the Zambian constitution to international standards that define a child as anyone below the age of 19 years and the landmark enactment of the children’s code act no. 12 of 2022 which has seen the consolidation of all child related laws and domesticated various regional and international instruments.

Hon. Chisangano also said that child marriage goes beyond being a private family matter, as it is a public issue that requires strong policy measures and interventions from all stakeholders.

Related Pictures