GHANA LAUNCHES END CHILD MARRIAGE CAMPAIGN

The Ministry of Gender and Social Protection under the patronage of the President of the Organization of African First Ladies Against HIV , Mrs. Lordina Mahama has launched “Ending Child Marriage Initiative In Ghana”. 
The initiative seek to bring hope to many young girls whose education, ambitions and dreams are cut short, because society gave them only one choice that is to become a child bride.  

Delivering the keynote address at the launch  in Accra, the first lady urged all African Heads of State, to enforce the legislation they have passed on the marriageable age for girls in their respective countries. According her any time a child is married, it is a reflection of failure of the international community, to care a little more. She believes that should the international community fail to end child marriage, it would be falling short in its commitment to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, on Gender Equality and Poverty.

 The First lady said there are enough compelling reasons for leaders to act now to end child marriage.  First of which is a young girl, radiating with hope could easily be disempowered and become dependent on the husband.  “Child brides are often deprived of their fundamental rights to health, education and safety. They are neither physically nor emotionally ready to become wives and mothers” she added.

Nana Lordina stated that Child brides are at greater risk of experiencing dangerous complications in pregnancy and childbirth, becoming infected with HIV/AIDS and suffering domestic violence.

The first lady Mrs Lordina Maham indicated that it is estimated that, the number of child brides in Sub-Saharan Africa, is expected to double by 2050.  It is also expected that Sub-Saharan Africa will overtake South Asia to become the region with the largest number of child brides in the world. This she said African leaders and all stakeholders must not allow to happen. She stated that most African countries have set the legal age for marriage at 18 years, but these laws are rarely enforced. 

  This she noted is largely due to the fact that the practice of marrying young children is upheld by tradition and social norms. She therefore called on traditional leaders to support the campaign.

Data released by UNICEF in July 2014, indicates that each year 15 million girls marry before the age of 18.  Each day, 41, 000 girls get married; every minute, 28 girls get married and every two seconds a girl gets married.

  The global data further reveal that more than 700 million women living today were married before they celebrated their 18th birthday

Out of this number around one in three (about 250 million) enter into the union before the age of 15.  

The Minister of Gender and social protection, Nana Oye reaffirmed the commitment of government and its stakeholders to end Child marriage. According to her Multiple Indicator Survey Report on Ghana shows that on average one out of five girls in Ghana are married before their eighteenth birthday and the number increases in the three regions of northern Ghana.

She therefore call on all to support the campaign. Nana Oye explained that girls are mostly affected when it comes to child marriage. She noted that government and her ministry has put inplace measures to make the End Child Marriage successful. OAFLA is also doing all it can to end Child Marriage.

Launching the End Child Marriage campaign President Mahama expressed government commitment to support the campaign. He said it is good campaign since young girls need to be in school and not their husbands house. President Mahama therefore called on all parents and religious leaders to ensure girls are allowed to go to school instead of being married off.

Records indicate that, due to population growth, the devastating results of child marriage are likely to aff­ect an even larger number of girls in Africa in the coming years. 

The complex mix of cultural and economic factors mean there is not a single, simple solution.

“I believe however, that the strategy should be partnership, long-term programming and a willingness to learn from our successes and failures” she said. She expressed the commitment of OAFLA to continue to offer the needed support to ensure that child marriage becomes a thing of the past in Africa.

This is to ensure that the hopes and dreams of the African child, are not truncated by the child marriage.

Already, Ethiopia, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar and Niger have launched the Campaign to end child marriage.