MAKAU: Please dont rob me of my childhood

MAKAU: Please dont rob me of my childhood

By Kavinya Makau, Project Manager (SOAWR Coalition Campaign)

Imagine this: a girl who was robbed of her childhood. One forced into “child marriage”, compelled to become an adult too fast, with opportunities ahead of her diminished and replaced by years of violence.

Stop imagining. This is the reality. An estimated 40% of women in sub-Saharan Africa are “married” while they are still children.  15 of the 20 countries with the highest prevalence of globally are on the African continent, with dire and multi-faceted personal and societal effects.

Equality Now has been working for over twenty years internationally and sixteen years in Kenya to end all forms of violence against girls and women, including  “child marriage”. Girls Not Brides indicates it is one of the key reasons for Africa’s hindered progress on at least 6 of 8 of the 2000-2015 Millennium Development Goals.  Going forward, it is vital that both “child marriage” and female genital mutilation (FGM) have “global indicators” in the new Global Goals, which set the development agenda for the next fifteen years.

To address the issue, the African Union has implemented a campaign to end “early, child or forced marriage” since 2014.  In the context of the campaign, The African Union’s Heads of State and Government formally adopted the African Common Position on the AU Campaign to End Child Marriage in Africa in June 2015.

It outlines commitments that AU states ought to follow through now more than ever, as the number of “child marriages” is expected to double.  The AU calls for the enactment and implementation of laws that set the minimum age of marriage at 18, with no exceptions and applicable under all legal systems.

Some national strategies and well-resourced comprehensive action plans aimed at “child marriage” have been developed, but we need every single country to implement targeted plans to eliminate this human rights violation.

Kenya’s 2014 Health and Demographic Survey paints a grim picture.  A quarter of the women in Kenya are “married” by age 18.  The highest prevalence is noted in counties in the North Eastern, Nyanza and Coast regions. If the current state of affairs continues, it is estimated that 15 million Kenyan girls will be “child marriage” victims by the year 2050, making it impossible for Kenya to achieve gender equality, anytime soon.

Kenya’s legal framework, including national laws such as the Children’s and Marriage Acts, as well as international instruments such as The Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the AU Women’s Rights Protocol all clearly prohibit this form of violence against children.

“Child marriage” takes place because of harmful, supposedly “cultural” reasons.  In some instances, it is linked to other violent rites of passage, such as FGM, which signal that girls are now “women” and are therefore “ready” for marriage.

The practice has also been linked to transnational child trafficking.  To that end, families and communities – including leaders – are complicit in this egregious human rights violation that not only robs girls of their childhood and future opportunities, but also leads to debilitating mental and physical effects, including reproductive health complications.

This year’s 2016 International Women’s Day theme is #pledgeforparity.  It is a call for purposeful action by various stakeholders to accelerate gender equality.  Where “child marriage” in Kenya is concerned, this means that the state should re-evaluate its strategies to address the harmful practice at national and county levels.

Are these strategies comprehensively addressing the root causes – including the social and cultural beliefs and the stereotyped roles of girls and women?  Are the effects effectively addressed?

Are victims adequately accessing health and legal services and support to ensure they are self-sustaining? Are the agencies charged with addressing the issue well coordinated and adequately resourced?  Once we can authoritatively respond in the affirmative to the questions posed can we claim to be walking the talk in relation to Kenya’s national and regional obligations.

 

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