MP advocates end to child marriage in Ghana

Dr Kojo Appiah-Kubi, Chairman of the Committee on Gender, Children and Social Protection, has called on government to strengthen existing child protection systems to end child marriage in Ghana.

According to him, the success of these efforts would depend largely on the political commitment of government and the provision of adequate resources to tackle the problem.

Dr Appiah-Kubi in a statement on the floor of parliament expressed concern about the rising levels of child marriages in Ghana.

Child marriage is a marriage in which a partner is below 18 years of age. It is illegal in Ghana, except at 16 with child and parental consent.

November 20 this year also marks the 30th Anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).

According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), 21 percent of girls in Ghana are married before their 18th birthday.

These rates vary greatly between regions and can be as high as 39 percent in the northern part of the country, but only 12 percent in Greater Accra region.

Dr Appiah-Kubi also stated that the Committee on Gender, Children and Social Protection as part of its advocacy to end child rights violations would want to highlight some of these rights violations in the course of the year.

“We believe to use this advocacy to create awareness about the CRC, and the various child rights violations in the country, as well as to mobilize stakeholders to do more in translating child rights into reality in Ghana”

Dr Appiah-Kubi also noted that the issue of child marriage was truly a global problem that cuts across countries, cultures, religions and ethnicities.

He stated that statistics showed that worldwide each year, 12 million girls are married before the age of 18, that is 23 girls every minutes and nearly 1 every 2 seconds.

He said the prevalence rate of child marriage was very high in Africa than in most areas. Of the 20 countries with the highest rates of child marriage, 17 are in Africa.

Dr Appiah-Kubi also indicated that child marriage was very often fuelled by gender inequality, poverty, traditions, and insecurity.

He called for measures to tackle these problems seriously given the devastating impact on the girl child, society and the economy of the country.

He said the impact of child marriage on the girl child should be seen as a human rights violation that could produce devastating repercussions on girl’s life, effectively ending her childhood.

Dr Appiah-Kubi also noted that child brides were not deprived of their fundamental rights to health, education and safety, adding that child bribes were neither physically nor emotionally ready to become wives and mothers.

He said child marriage usually destroyed the future marital life of the girl child as available evidence suggests that child marriage almost always ends in failure.

He said communities and nations equally feel the negative impact of child marriage, in that systems that undervalue the contribution and participation of girls and women limit their own possibilities for growth, stability and transformation.