NGO insists that 21 years marriage age not the right route
A Southern Province-based nongovernmental organization fighting against child marriages has maintained its position that the proposed 21 years to be enacted as legal age for marriage as in a bid to curb child marriages was not a good route for the country.
The Musokotwane Compassion Mission Zambia (MCMZ) has maintained that the country needs to channel its efforts to effect the already existing pieces of legislation aimed at curbing child marriages and invest in meeting needs of girls retrieved from child marriages.
Speaking during a live phone-in programme on Choma Maanu Radio Station yesterday 13th September, 2017, MCMZ executive director Genious Musokotwane charged that the nation has little to no capacity to fully effect the 21years as legal marriage age at community level.
Musokotwane added that such a move also calls for building capacity of the country’s correctional services as prisons do not have the capacity accommodate would-be offenders.
“We have to be thinking at having reformed people who we can entrust with our children in society hence the need for perpetrators of violence against children to be prosecuted and serve the jail sentence due to them so that they can reform and become better citizens of this republic. However, we must note that raising the child marriage age to 21years doesn’t only seek to curb child marriages and GBV as it will also seek to define a child as any person below the age of 21years which will eventually constitute amendments of all pieces of registration that defines a child as any one of the age of 16, 18 and 14 as our current law can’t speak the same language hence making prosecutions of child marriage a nightmare,” Musokotwane said.
“Further note that our intention should not be to have toothless pieces of legislation that cannot send a strong message to the community, so you must expect prosecution of would be offenders and these people don’t deserve a fine but serve jail so that they can reform into better citizens but there is little to no space in our prisons to send even those who will be found married to 20year old girls upon effecting this law.”
Musokotwane stated that the country has guiding principles on providing services to children which are embedded in the 2015 National Child Policy.
“Firstly, we must note that the we have a National Child Policy under the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Child Development whose vision is to inspire a society where children survive, thrive and reach their full potential.
“The national child policy of 2015 is guided by the following principles; Non-discrimination, Best interest of the child, Human rights based approach, Core cultural values and practices, Child participation, and
Decentralized and holistic service delivery.
“Child Participation Rights further reviews that the policy objective under the child participation rights is to coordinate and manage the formulation and implementation of multi-sectorial child welfare and development programmes in order to facilitate attainment of their full potential in the enjoyment of life with measures under it that guides the involvement of children in the Legislation Process; and Mass Media. However, we’ve never noticed that in the formation of the proposed 21years in the marriage act.
“If at all the process was adhered we wonder why the players at grassroots level where we are found how they were engaged in order to have a consensus approach to this policy formation,” Said Musokotwane
He further reiterated his organization’s advice which was carried in the Sunday Times of Zambia newspapers for the nation to strengthen capacity of the existing legislations in order for them to be effective.
“If we check on the current pieces of registration, the Employment of Young Persons and Children Act defines a “child” as a person under the age of fourteen [14]years, while the Juveniles Act defines a “child” as a person who has not attained the age of sixteen [16] years. When we go international or the global way, since Zambians are fond of the “global” term, the United Nation Convention on the Rights of Children defines a ‘child’ as a person who is18yrs and below, unless the laws of a particular country set the legal age for adulthood younger.
“The good news we have is that the Constitution of Zambia (Amendment) [No. 2 of 2016 defines a “child” as a person who has attained, or is below, the age of eighteen years. This is what we needed and government must be commended. Now let us work on the penal code and other pieces of legislation, giving them enough capacity and strength to be effective then channel resources towards meeting needs of children retrieved from child marriages and those at risk of the vice and we would be on the right path to ending child marriages.
“Aiming at enforcing the law without sustainable and tangible incentives to meet needs of children at risk of child marriages or those retrieved from child marriages would be a worst form of injustice we will subject these children,” he said.
MCMZ is one of the organizations in the Southern region with the best mechanism that responds to issues of child marriages as the institution offers a holistic service ranging from retrieval of girls in child marriage, meeting of their basic needs, education support through a schools sponsorship programme, and advocacy.