Mthandazo Maphosa
CONTACT Family Counselling Centre, a registered welfare organisation offering free professional counselling for the management of sexually abused children, has followed with interest and concern the issue on early child marriages and early age of sexual consent.

Our counselling work with children informs us that they need parental support and guidance. Parents, guardians and the community at large are all obliged to protect and promote the rights of children in order to enable them to achieve their potential.

We acknowledge that the current socio-economic environment has led to a lot of children facing difficulties including dropping out of school as parents or guardians fail to meet school related requirements.

The future of all children should be a concern of all of us as duty bearers and their best interests should be prioritised at all times.

Dropping out of school violates the basic principle of the right to education which is enshrined in our national constitution.

Once children are out of school they may be perceived as adults and ready for marriage as it may be expected by society. As parents, and as a nation, we cannot accept such a situation.

Early marriage is an issue which must be dealt with seriously in its nature and consequences.

Marriage is a commitment that should be entered into by mature people with mutual consent and not with a child.

Ideally, to reach adulthood, children should be supported to go through stages of development without shortcuts determined by unfortunate circumstances.

Culturally, children need to undergo specific passage rites into adulthood. What has happened to such commendable traditions that are meant to protect children?

How then do we define children if we are to encourage or let them enter into adulthood without any suitable preparation for the long journey ahead?

Are we not dumping our children to climb the mountain on their own where the sad result will be a drastic fall?

A child’s appearance and his or her mental age do not synchronise in terms of readiness to sexual acts and even less to marriage.

Children need to physically and cognitively grow in order to be ready for conceiving fully developed children; otherwise, there is a high risk of abnormalities including brain damage.

In most cases, young girls get married to men who are older; this makes them vulnerable to STIs including HIV and cervical cancer in future.

It is commonly said children are our future. What future are we anticipating if we are to encourage early sexual consent and early marriages for financial reasons?

Should we relegate the future of our children and indeed that of our nation because the socio-economic environment is difficult?

Shouldn’t we as a nation focus on ways that can support children to remain in school as long as possible and where applicable, also, focus on initiatives that equip children out of school with skills that they can use to contribute to their household and national productivity?

Educating children should in the long run help them to develop to their highest potential thereby ensuring they have an adequate standard of living; a right of every human being.

Zimbabwe is one of the countries which signed international conventions and treaties, such as the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the 1990 African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of Children (ACRWC).

These conventions and charters define a child and state their rights. The ratification of these International and Regional Conventions engage the signatories not only to respect them but also and more importantly to ensure their full implementation.

For those children who are out of school due to lack of resources, we encourage that the responsible ministries ensure that services are made available for vulnerable children.

We urge law makers to speedily address the legislative reforms to harmonise child-related laws and policies with our national constitution which defines children as “every boy and girl under the age of eighteen years” (Chapter 4 Part 3 section 81).

This will provide protection for children as far as law is concerned but before the reforms are finalised all of us have a responsibility to stand up for child protection.

We applaud the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare and the Inter-Ministerial Taskforce on the Alignment of Legislation to the Constitution that have already developed a discussion paper on the review of the Children’s Act.

This, if implemented, will contribute very much to child protection and is indeed commended.

Everyone has a responsibility to ensure children are protected.

Let us therefore continue speaking out with a loud voice and ensure a safe environment for all children. If you do not speak out, children will be robbed of their childhood and opportunities to become their best.

A child is a human being, not a sexual object.

  • Mthandazo Maphosa is a case management/advocacy officer at Contact Family Counselling Centre.

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