South Sudanese teenager Nyalong Ngong Deng Jalang has been married off to businessman Kok Alat after he surpassed five other tycoons, including a deputy governor, in a “bidding war”. Alat surpassed his competition by paying 530 cows, three Land Cruiser V8 cars and US$10 000 in dowry.
More than half of girls in South Sudan are married before the age of 18. Endemic conflict and food shortages are only exacerbating the problem.
A new study from the World Bank has revealed that ending child marriage would reduce population growth, boost girls’ educational achievements and increase their earnings. Each year more than 15 million girls worldwide are married before they turn 18 and experts say these child brides are more likely to be victims of sexual and domestic abuse and become teenage mothers.
Though several African countries have adopted legal frameworks to end early marriage in the wake of the first African Union Girls Summit in Lusaka, Zambia, in November 2015, the slow rate of reduction and rapid population growth are making progress difficult, writes Linus Unah.
A 37-year-old Ugandan woman, living in Kabimbiri village, Mukono District, outside Kampala, Mariam Nabatanzi has given birth to 38 children. The children include six sets of twins, four sets of triplets and three sets of quadruples, all born naturally.
Nigeria’s most respected and powerful Muslim leader, Emir Muhammadu Sanusi II, said there will soon be a law, which prohibits polygamy among poor men who can’t look after their wives and families. If passed the law will also include a ban on forced marriages, and child marriages.
The Gambian parliament has passed the Children’s Amendment Bill bill banning child marriage, as part of the government’s commitment to fight and prevent the practice. The bill orders that offenders will face 20 years in prison. The provision comes after President Yahya Jammeh’s recent declaration of a ban on child marriage. The landmark decision has been hailed by many rights groups and citizens.
African First Ladies at the just ended African Union (AU) summit in Rwanda made a commitment to continue fighting child marriage across the continent and resolved to ensure the launch of the campaign to End Child Marriage continues in 2017. Almost three quarters of governments are yet to launch the campaign, which raises awareness on the effects of child marriage and calls on AU member states to enact laws, setting the minimum age of marriage at 18 years.
In a bid to protect girls and fight child marriage, the Gambian President Yahya Jammeh has made a pronouncement, which outlaws child marriage, declaring that any person who marries a girl below the age of 18 will face 20 years in prison, and anyone who aids and abates a child marriage will also be convicted.
Tanzania has passed a provision, which stipulates that men who impregnate or marry schoolgirls will face 30 years in prison as part of the government’s commitment to fight and prevent child marriage. The country has one the highest child marriage prevalence rates in the world, and to eliminate the scourge, the government has resolved to take tougher measures in the form of lengthy jail terms to protect school-girls.
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