As part of the main drivers of the BAM Group of Companies, this being the umbrella company within which Informative Newspaper operates, alongside sister brands Finite Magazine, Finite Lifestyle Club, Bam Promotions and Twin Talk, Informative Newspaper takes particular interest in social issues and causes created to advance the development of young girls and women and their participation in the global space.
To advance and cement the organization’s support for women and young girls, the Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights is today, through this issue introduced. Its purpose is to advance knowledge and create further awareness on developments surrounding the said community sector and to help audiences stay updated on such, further guiding means of both action and reaction to these developments.
This week we discuss child marriage,
The SADC Model Law on Eradicating Child Marriages and Protecting Children Already in Marriage sets important standards for the protection of children in Southern Africa. The Model Law sets out legal norms which may be used as inspiration for lawmaking. Its focus on the particular circumstances of the African region, such as the need to register all marriages, prohibit betrothals, harmful customary practices, and the anti-child marriage fund make it a unique guiding document for the SADC region and beyond.
Undertake advocacy research: Parliamentarians can initiate research into the prevalence of child marriage in their countries. They can call for research to investigate the prevalence, causes and impact of child marriage; the laws, customs and practices around child marriage; gaps and challenges within national laws and policies and best practices to respond to and eradicate child marriage.
Enact and strengthen protective laws: Parliamentarians can draft and enact laws that help to end child marriage. They can use the SADC-PF Model Law on Ending Child Marriage as a basis to call for the development or reform of laws, with a focus on the following:
• Ensure that laws set the minimum marriage age for boys and girls at 18 years. Where the law allows for exceptions, children below the age of 18 should only be allowed to marry with the permission of a judge or a judicial process to ensure that both parties have consented to the marriage;
• Ensure that laws governing marriage require full and free consent to marriage by both parties and proof of age of both parties;
• Ensure that laws provide for the compulsory registration of births and marriages;
• Ensure that there are no inconsistencies between statutory and customary laws, with regard to the minimum marriage age;
• Promote equal, non-discriminatory access to SRH services and information, including information on HIV-related services, for adolescent girls and boys and young women and men;
• Respect the right to medical confidentiality for girls, both married and unmarried; and
• Promote CSE for adolescents and young men and women, including information about
contraception and HIV prevention.
Ensure accountability for implementation of commitments: Parliamentarians can undertake
legal audits to assess the extent to which laws and policies are consistent with international and regional human rights commitments to end child marriage. They can also call for accountability to and reporting on efforts to meet related international and regional human rights commitments. They can meet with the relevant parliamentary committees to share information and concerns about the causes and impact of child marriage and how law reform can advance girls’ equality and protect them from child marriage. They can meet with international and regional experts to discuss what law reform is necessary and advocate for legal and policy reform to ensure compliance. They can monitor and hold government ministries accountable for reporting on their progress towards amending discriminatory laws and enacting protective ones, and they can encourage civil society to monitor whether protective laws are being implemented. Parliamentarians can encourage government to develop national plans of action, with clear targets, milestones, indicators and allocated budgets to achieve SDG Target 5.3 on ending child marriage by 2030.
Budget monitoring: Parliamentarians can advocate for adequate budgets to be allocated for measures to end child marriage and canvass for dedicated funds to be allocated to prohibit child marriages, betrothals and to encourage registration of all marriages. They can analyse budget allocations for SRH to assess whether programmes will reach child brides and girls at risk of child marriage. They can encourage various ministries (e.g. health, education, justice) to budget for programmes to end child marriage. They can work with their constituents to ensure that funding for ending child marriage reaches sub-national and local levels.
Be an opinion leader and influencer: Parliamentarians can become opinion leaders on the need to eradicate child marriage. They can attend events and speak out about the harms of child marriage and frame it as an important human rights issue. They can use international or national human rights days such as the International Day of the Girl Child (11 October), to increase awareness about child marriage. They can also work within Parliament and in Parliamentary forums and networks, to raise awareness amongst fellow parliamentarians on the causes and impact of child marriage and the importance of eradicating child marriage. They can share lessons learned at regional and global level with other parliamentarians.
Engage with civil society: Parliamentarians can engage with CSOs to increase awareness, understanding and information on child marriage. They can organise field trips to investigate community actions to end child marriage. Parliamentarians can invite CSOs and the communities they work with, to provide expert information at parliamentary hearings on the prevalence of child marriage in the country, the impact it has on young girls and boys, and the challenges within the legal framework. They can empower women married as children or child brides to advocate on their own behalf. They can present the findings of these meetings and hearings to relevant government ministries. Parliamentarians can play an important role in ensuring that the voices of girls, women and key populations can influence all aspects of planning, including design, implementation and monitoring of national plans to end child marriage.
Represent their electorate: Parliamentarians should engage with and reflect the concerns of all their electorate, including marginalised and vulnerable groups such as child brides. Parliamentarians can engage with key stakeholders within communities – young people, teachers, parents, traditional leaders, religious leaders and health workers, to increase awareness of actions to end child marriage and to understand the challenges faced by those affected.
Work with the media: Parliamentarians can work with the media to raise awareness and to encourage responsible reporting on child marriage.
What can parliamentarians do to help end child marriage?
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