AU Seeks Ways To End Child-Marriage …As Zambia Hosts Girls’ Summit

The African Union (AU)
on Monday said Zambian Government had offered to host a girls’ summit aimed at finding ways of ending child marriage in the continent.
In a statement, the AU said that the summit, to be held between Nov. 26, 2015 and November 27, 2015 in Lusaka, would bring heads of state and government of member states together.
‘’International and civil society organisations as well as community and religious leaders and other stakeholders are also expected to come together to brainstorm on how to curb the scourge in Africa,’’ it said.
Nkandu Luo, Zambia’s Minister of Gender and Child Development said that the country was excited to be given an opportunity to host the event.
Luo said that the event would accelerate Zambia’s efforts in the fight against child-marriage through sharing of experiences with other countries.
The summit will help to highlight significant problems affecting the girl-child in Africa and engender the change that is needed to prevent the continuous violation of the rights of children.
Zambia has one of the highest child-marriage rates in Africa, with 42 per cent of women aged between 20 and 24 years marrying before the age of 18.
This situation, according to the statement, is in spite of setting a minimum age of marriage for boys and girls at 21.
Projections for Africa show that with no intervention in the next decade to stop child-marriages from occurring, 14.2 million girls under the age of 18 years will be married every year.
‘’This further translates into 39,000 girls each day,’’ the statement added.
In May, 2014, the AU launched a continent wide campaign to end the harmful practice of child-marriage in Africa because of the negative effects it has on the girl-child.