Child marriages in Africa are set to more than
double by 2050 unless urgent steps are taken,
UNICEF warned Thursday as delegates met in
Zambia to discuss how to halt the practice.
The two-day meeting in Lusaka is the African
Union’s first conference on “Ending Child
Marriage in Africa”, gathering representatives
from member states as well as first ladies, UN
officials and civil society groups.
“The total number of child brides will rise from
125 million to 310 million by 2050… if we do not
do something now,” UNICEF deputy executive
director Fatoumata Ndiaye told AFP.
“That means that the face of child marriage will
be Africa,” eclipsing South Asia, which currently
has the highest number of child brides, Ndiaye
said in a phone interview from Lusaka.
The huge jump in the number of children being
married off will be triggered partly by the
continent’s rapid population growth.
“The child population of Africa is expected to
grow rapidly in the coming years putting millions
more girls at risk” of early marriage, said UNICEF
in a report published as the meeting opened in
Zambia.
Africa’s population of girls is expected to balloon
from the current 275 million to 465 million within
35 years.
“By 2050 we will have … more teenagers
marrying in Africa than anywhere else in the
world.
“So it makes it extremely important to do
something today and not to wait any more,” said
Ndiaye.
UNICEF executive director Anthony Lake said in
a statement that the huge numbers of girls
affected “underline the urgency of banning the
practice of child marriage once and for all.”
The African Union estimates that about 14 million
under-age girls are married on the continent
each year — almost all of them forced to by
their parents, often against laws that are rarely
enforced.
“Child marriage is a human rights violation that
robs girls of their rights to health, to live in
security, and to choose if, when and whom to
marry,” the AU said ahead of the meeting.
“It is a harmful practice which severely affects
the rights of a child.”
Searing poverty has been one of the driving
forces behind early marriages, while traditional
customs also play a significant role.
Girls married early face a greater risk of
domestic violence, contracting HIV and are likely
to die or face complications while giving birth,
according to the global coalition Girls Not Brides.
Some of the highest rates of under-age marriage
in Africa are in Mauritania, Niger, Chad and the
Central African Republic while Nigeria, with 23
million, is home to the largest number of child
brides.
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