Ending Child Marriages

NEWS COMMENTARY ON ENDING CHILD MARRIAGES 

Each year, 15 million girls marry before the age of 18 around the world. Breaking this down - everyday 41,000  girls get married; every minute 28 girls get married and every two seconds a girl gets married. In Sub-Saharan Africa, it is projected that the number of child brides could double by 2050. On average, one out of four girls in Ghana is married before their 18th birthday. These statistics from UNICEF and Ghana’s Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey show the worrying trends of child marriage across the world which has necessitated the global call for action to eliminate child marriage by 2030. Ghana, with the support of UNICEF, launched its campaign to end child marriage in February, this year and these efforts are sparking interesting debates across the country. 

One such debate is the issue of disparity between the age of consent to sex and the legal age for marriage. The motion is that the gap of two years between the age of consent and the legal age for marriage encourages teenage pregnancy which is a key driver of child marriage. The legal age for marriage in Ghana is enshrined in the 1998 Children’s Act and the Criminal Procedure Code (Act 30), setting it at 18 years for all forms of marriages. This is not the first time Ghana is witnessing such a debate. In 1998, debates leading to the passage of the Children’s Act included the contested issue of what the age of consent should be. While some argued for it to be raised to 16, others wanted it to be on par with the age for marriage.It is interesting that after almost two decades, this debate has re-emerged and even more contested as the campaign to end child marriage gains momentum in Ghana. The main proponents for raising the age of consent to sex argue that the Children’s Act provides that a child is someone below the age of 18. From this, it is derived that a 16 year old is still a child and may not know the implications of having sex, and protecting his or herself. 

Others argue that since the age of consent is at 16, sexual abuse of the child at that age is treated as a misdemeanour, serving as little deterrent for men to refrain from it. When the age of consent is raised, sex below 18 years will be treated as defilement which attracts a minimum of seven years and a maximum of 25 years jail sentence. Also at 18, a person is financially, mentally, and emotionally better off than a 16 year old in terms of marriage. These arguments notwithstanding, there are some who strongly believe that there is nothing wrong with the laws as they stand now. They assert that the age of consent at 16 is in line with international practices and is in the best interest of the child. At 16, it is expected that a child should be mature enough to make that decision just as the constitution makes provision for the child to do light work from 15, without it being considered child labour. It is argued that a lot of the reasons given for the need to change the laws are based on morality, tradition, and culture which are impractical for the current times. Pushing the age of consent to 18 means that a lot of sexual activities, which will happen anyway, will be considered statutory rape, leading to excessive prosecution. The reverse, which is to bring the age of marriage down to be on par with the age of consent, is an impossible venture.

Ghana prides itself in being the first to have signed and ratified the convention on the rights of the child, and has made so much progress in that regard, lowering the age will seem as though the country is going backwards. Some believe that the way forward is to find ways to ensure that children who are sexually active do not get pregnant and be compelled to get married. One way could be to encourage comprehensive sexual education in schools so that teenagers are educated on the changes happening in their bodies and the consequences of the actions they take. Here, the State’s role will be to make comprehensive sexual education part of the curriculum of basic and high schools. Also, the State could take steps to ensure that contraceptives are available to teenagers. 

This way, child marriage that comes about as a result of the gap between the age of consent and the legal age of marriage would be a thing of the past.

BY DINAH ADIKOH OF THE CHILD MARRIAGE UNIT OF THE MINISTRY OF GENDER, CHILDREN AND SOCIAL PROTECTION