Today,
the National Assembly of The Gambia will be recalled from its annual summer
recess, to open the first extra-ordinary session in the new legislative year,
so as to formally legislate the presidential ban on child marriage by amending
the Children’s Act 2005, called the Children’s Act amendment bill 2016.
Today
is the day when a girl-child will be given the chance to reach her potential,
and be allowed to be a child and not become a bride.
It
is indeed a day worth marking in our history books, worth celebrating and
recognizing, as well as supporting the growth of a child.
It
is a day worth witnessing for it is going to put an end to impunity against a
girl-child, who was not given a chance to realise her potential when it comes
to education, health, social and economic empowerment, as well as to contribute
to the development of her country.
She
is a child and not a bride and marriage brought her nothing, but endless
nightmares.
Every
human being on earth deserves to enjoy childhood, grow in peace to be able to
harness his or her potential.
Marriage
as complicated as it is, is where we expect our mothers to look after the
family which includes the man and children; where a woman is most of the time
faced with challenges of giving birth, and the domestic work that comes with it
sometimes is not meant for a child.
Unlike
Female Genital Mutilation that has seen more than three decades of advocacy,
ending child marriage in The Gambia has come from being a dream to a reality,
thanks to the First Lady’s initiative and campaign against the practice that
harms the health and mental well-being of girls.
Listening
to their testimonies, one could see the trauma, nightmare and the physical and
mental torture they went through in the hands of their fathers, men old enough
to baby sit them, whom they call their husbands.
It
is heartbreaking, and I wonder what kind of a man marries a toddler when there
are lots of matured women out there for you to marry.
How
can mentally stable matured men take a toddler as a wife, and be very proud to
parade her around, and say I have a “Maanyo ringo”?
We call on the law-makers to make sure that
any man, who parades a toddler around introducing her as a “Maanyo ringo”, be
also paraded in the court for marrying a toddler.
They
called her “Maanyo ringo” because they fully know that she is a child, but want
her for their selfish desires and to satisfy their lust.
We
all know that child marriage happens in the communities where we all come from.
Most of it was arranged since birth between close relations, and these are
people who knew each other for a very long time and have done wonderful things
for each other, putting the child in the middle as the price.
So
the advocacy and the fight against child marriage starts in our midst, homes,
communities since we are the ones that look out for each other.
Our
local rulers, the chiefs, alkalos as well as the governors together with our
religious leaders are the ones involved in such ceremonies, and it is fortunate
to hear some of our chiefs saying they are rallying behind the first lady’s
campaign in ending child marriage, which is good; but we hope this is what
actually happens in their regions.
We
also know for a fact that some parents are justifying their actions, saying if
they do not marry them off, they will get pregnant out of wedlock.
It
will still be a teenage pregnancy and risks associated with it; it will still
be the same, even if the girl-child is in her matrimonial house.
If
you marry a girl-child off and she gets pregnant as a teenager, she is still
prone to risks and her life is at stake, because at that stage she is not
physically, mentally and emotionally prepared to be a mother.
As
the National Assembly decides on the fate of the girl-child today, we want them
to know that in amending the Children’s Act, they should do so not as husbands,
but as fathers and mothers whose aim and objective is wipe away the sorrows of
their daughters and restore hope in them, as well as compensate the victims
that lost their childhood and cannot tell what it means to be a child.
Let
the fathers and mothers who are our parliamentarians know that this is a right
and not a favour for the girl-child, and it should be stiffen and made very
strict, because the damage done to a child sent to marry an adult is far
greater than any man-made punishment.
The
perpetrators, when found wanting by the law, should be able to feel the pain
and nightmares that these victims went through in their hands.
We
endure the law-makers to put themselves in the shoes of the children and hear
their cries so they could live in an environment free from violence.
Shortly
after the declaration by the President banning child marriage, She-she-she
spoke to women’s rights activist Isatou Jeng, programme manager The Girls’ Agenda
and advocacy and campaign officer of the Network against GBV.
She
has this to say: “Child Marriage continues to be one of the harmful traditional
practices that violate the human rights of children, and most especially the
girl-child.
“According
to UNICEF MICS 2010, its prevalence rate is at 31 per cent in The Gambia with
URR being the highest. This is very alarming and needs serious interventions
from all stakeholders.
“While
we understand that child marriage is a long standing cultural practice, it is
important to bear in mind that the best interest of the child comes first, and
children must be allowed to enjoy their human rights with the choice to decide
when and whom to marry.”
She
added: “As a harmful traditional practice, child marriage has devastating
consequences that robs girls of their rights to education, health and
self-actualization. It exposes girls to
poverty and economic dependence on partners, thereby increasing their risk to
face other forms of gender-based violence. The recent pronouncement made to ban
child marriage is, therefore, timely and a step in the right direction in
fulfilling the obligations owed to the children of The Gambia.
“Strong
political commitment such as this is what is required to strengthen ongoing
advocacy efforts to end child marriage in The Gambia, and I look forward to
seeing words translated into actions where 18 years will be legalized as the
minimum legal age of marriage.”
However,
the enactment of legislation will not be an end to the campaign on ending the
practice. Organizations and institutions working on this issue will continue to
engage the general population through dialogue and training to educate people
on the negative effects of child marriage, she continued.
She
concluded that activists in The Gambia must know that now is the time to
amplify efforts in raising the awareness of the people on how devastating child
marriage is.
People
can stop a deeply-rooted practice only if they are aware and understand its
negative effects.
“We
will not relent in our efforts to promote and protect the human rights of
children, most especially girls, as a prerequisite for a better future where
all persons will live in freedom and dignity,” she added.
She-she-she
welcomes the ban on child marriage, and we hope that enforcement will not be
the problem when the amendment is done.
