By Emma Batha
CASABLANCA – Child marriage should be seen as a form of modern slavery and is tantamount to sanctioning child rape, the African Union’s goodwill ambassador said at a conference on ending the practice.
Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda said child marriage inflicted life-long trauma on many girls and far more must be done to address its psychosocial impact.
“(With child marriage) we are sanctioning rape, we are sanctioning abduction, we are sanctioning a modern form of slavery, it’s trafficking, it’s forced labour,” said Gumbonzvanda, a human rights lawyer whose mother and sister were both wed as children in her native Zimbabwe.
“It’s a huge bundle of violations, and the moment we just call it ‘marriage’, it is like we are giving it a blessing and acceptability.”
Worldwide around 15 million girls are married off every year, depriving them of education and opportunities, jeopardising their health and increasing the risks of exploitation, sexual violence, domestic abuse and death in childbirth.
Children born to girl mothers tend to be less healthy, less educated and poorer. Daughters often grow up to become child brides themselves, perpetuating cycles of abuse and poverty.
MARRIED AND RAPED
(Thomson Reuters Foundation)