Harare, Zimbabwe (News of the South)-The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) is burdened with cases of ‘disappearing’ victims and witnesses in cases involving child marriages and has called for a speedy alignment of the constitution which is still in conflict with certain legal instruments.
More than 10 victims in child marriages have disappeared this year before their cases have gone to court resulting in the NPA dropping the cases altogether.
In some cases victims have failed to appear for court, backtracked or when they came, actually supported the accused.
Speaking at a Women’s Coalition in Zimbabwe (WCZ) event to deal with challenges of child marriages NPA prosecutor Kudzayi Chigwedere said issues of child marriages were difficult to deal with.
“Many have simply not turned up and it becomes difficult to get evidence or witnesses since most of the times these issues happen within families. The main challenge we have is that all witnesses are usually involved and closely related”.
“The child may get witness protection but that’s maybe for two weeks and after that she has to go back, but go back where? Back where some relatives are supporting that she go to her husband”, she said.
Chigwedere also cited a conflict within the law.
“There are differences between the ages of consent for marriage and age of consent for sex. Thus the law seems to say have sex but don’t get married and this creates challenges again when child marriage cases come up”.
In January the Constitutional Court ruled that marriage before the age of 18 is illegal following an application by two women who sought to have the legal age of marriage moved to 18 for both men and women.
Deputy Chief Justice (DCJ) Luke Malaba struck down Section 22 (1) of the Marriages Act (Chapter 5:11) which allows children of 16 years to marry, saying it was unconstitutional.
However Inspector Estina Sengwe from the ZRP Victim Friendly Unit said there was also challenge in the law’s silence on defining what a child is.
“The law does not define what a child is so it’s difficult for the police to combat issues of child marriages”.
An activist at the event said there is lack of urgency in the alignment of laws pertaining to child marriages.
“The Labour Act took less than two months to be amended but it’s now 3 years since the new constitution came in but the alignment hasn’t been done yet. This needs to be done urgently”.
“The problem with the pot in which we are preparing our girl is that it has loopholes.”
“Sometimes the girl does not have a birth certificate and to get the Age Estimate is very costly to get and who should pay for it again”, she said.
Zimbabwe is one of four southern African countries with the highest rates of girl child marriages with more than one-third of girls being wed before they turn 18, according to the United Nations Population Fund and the development group Plan International.
The others are Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia.
The organizations say early marriages prevent children — especially girls — from developing careers, forcing them into a cycle of poverty.
The U.N. Population Fund calls child marriage a violation of human rights.
Comments
About Author
