The Constitutional Court this morning delivered its long-awaited ruling on child marriage.
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Poverty, religion and tradition are main reason for child marriages in Zimbabwe, where more than one-third of girls are Wednesday before they turn 18.
Lawyer Tendai Biti who represented the two women said that a precedent had been set by the case. Previously, the Marriage Act allowed girls to be married at the age of 18 and boys to be married at the age of 16 and did not address a minimum age for customary unions.
Two young women who were both forced to marry when they became pregnant as teenagers brought the case to the Constitutional Court in 2014.
“The studies showed that where child marriage was practiced, it was evidence of failure by the State to discharge its obligations under worldwide human rights law to protect the girl child from the social evils of sexual exploitation, physical abuse and deprivation of education, all of which infringed her dignity as a human being”, ruled the court.
Women In Law Southern Africa director Ms Slyvia Chirawu said the judgment was an important one to all fair-minded Zimbabweans.
In coming up with the landmark judgment, the court considered various local and global studies that proved child marriages were evil.
In her affidavit, Mudzuru described how child marriage and poverty create a vicious circle.
“The outlawing of this primitive practice is in line with worldwide, regional and national efforts to end child marriages”.
ZLHR urged stakeholders to raise awareness on the latest development and harmful impact of child marriages.
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In a joint statement, the Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association and Plan International, welcomed the judgment which they said reaffirmed constitutional principles of broader reach because it shades more light on such contentious issues that justified discrimination based on gender. The Constitutional Court did just that. They argued [SABC report] that the sections of the Marriage Act allowing child marriage were discriminatory and violated children’s rights as laid out in the 2013 constitution. Girls as young as 12 were married off due to poverty or religious and customary practices, the group said. Study after study exposed child marriage as an embodiment of all evils against which the fundamental rights are meant to protect the child.
