Mozambique: Four in ten girls “get married” before the age of 18 – survey | Lusa report

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Mozambique: Four in ten girls “get married” before the age of 18 – survey | Lusa report

7:59 CAT | 10 May 2021

Photo: Instituto Nacional da Saúde

Four out of 10 girls in Mozambique get married before the age of 18, indicates the survey on violence against children released on Friday in Maputo by the Mozambican Government.

The study, carried out by the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Action, in partnership with the National Institute of Health, was conducted in 2019, with the aim of analysing violence against children in the country to better design strategies to curb the problem.

The survey also reveals that a “substantial proportion of girls” (21%) between the ages of 13 and 17 have been married or living with a man, in most cases older.

“The survey also found that there is a high proportion of children who suffered some form of violence in childhood, namely sexual, physical and emotional violence,” said Ângelo Augusto, a researcher at the National Institute of Health, during the event to publicise the survey in Maputo.

For the Mozambican government, the figures are worrying and reiterate the importance of strengthening policies and strategies for the protection of girls, especially in rural areas.

“On the other hand, the study reveals that HIV and premature unions are still worrying, considering that 7.6 per cent of girls and 2.3 per cent of boys, between 18 and 24 years old, tested positive for HIV”, said the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Action, Nyeleti Mondlane.

Mozambique continues to have one of the highest prevalence rates of early unions, with about 48 per cent of girls getting married before they reach 18.

Marriages are usually negotiated by families and used as a strategy to escape poverty.

In October 2019, Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi promulgated and had published the Law to Prevent and Combat Premature Unions, approved in July of the same year by parliament.

The law eliminates marital unions involving people under 18 years old, punishing an adult who marries a child with a penalty of up to 12 years and a fine.

The diploma also sanctions an adult who gets engaged to an under-18-year-old with a penalty of up to two years.

The penalty is also extended to adults who participate in the engagement preparations and to any adult who accepts to live in a union arranged by other people, when he/she knows that the partner is under 18 years old.

Penalties are also provided for public officials, religious leaders and traditional leaders who celebrate marriages involving people under 18, in which case the civil servant will be sentenced to up to eight years in jail.

Source: Lusa