Zimbabwe Parliament calls for criminalisation of child marriages as 4 500 are forced out of primary school in one year

Some of the challenges Mr. Speaker Sir, are clearly set out in the first part which I have already alluded to, namely that the lack of effective and well-streamlined birth registration systems which make age determination difficult for purposes of enforcing a law on child marriages. Again, obviously what I have already been highlighting that there are no provisions in the law criminalising those who contravene the minimum age of marriage requirement. Also Mr. Speaker Sir, the slow reforms on laws on marriage.

The second aspect which is critical in this Model Law is that it also makes reference to the international and regional human rights instruments which we have already acceded to. I will just highlight some of these. The Model Law Mr. Speaker Sir is structured using the General Conventional Practices, which are reflected in the SADC Model Law on HIV/AIDS. These are as follows; you have got your Table of Contents, Preamble, headings and so on. In the preliminary provisions, you now have a restatement of the rights, concepts which relate to the child and the policy initiatives, measures and interventions, which I think are important so that whoever has got sight of this Model Law has a clear understanding of where one is coming from.

When you go to the third part of the Model Law Mr. Speaker, it specifically speaks to the issue of child betrothal, because some of the challenges that we have arise because of poverty where we have got parents betrothing their children and those children have no option or choice and end up being married at an early age. What this Model Law seem to be doing is to criminalise that.

The fourth part Mr. Speaker Sir deals with the measures and interventions to prevent child marriages. The fifth part deals with the measures and interventions to mitigate the effects of child marriages.

In the preamble Mr. Speaker Sir, the Model Law will go back to the critical issues about some of our customs and practices which are prejudicial to the health and life of children. It makes it abundantly clear that child marriages and the betrothal of boys and girls shall be prohibited and effective action, including legislation, shall be taken to specify the minimum age of marriage which has already been done. It also refers to other instruments Mr. Speaker, which we have already acceded to but which we are not implementing.

For example, in the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, which is commonly known as the Maputo Protocol, we have a situation Mr. Speaker where most governments have already acceded to this important instrument. One of the provisions is that every marriage shall be recorded in writing and registered in accordance to the national laws in order to be legally recognised, and that monogamy is encouraged as the preferred form of marriage.

Mr. Speaker, in this august House, I would like to implore Hon. Members of Parliament to lead by example. As I have already highlighted, the Maputo Protocol makes it very clear that monogamy must be the preferred form of marriage. That if you are already married, we are all being encouraged to stick to that one wife. I hope that we, Members of Parliament are not at the forefront of violating that principle. You find that some of the challenges that we have is that some of these children are going into marriage at a tender age, marrying older men – I would like to challenge all of us to lead by example.

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