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The Sierra Leone government has passed a law setting a minimum prison term of 15 years for criminals
Sierra Leone President Julius Maada Bio has signed a bill banning child marriage in the West African country, where one in three girls is married before the age of 18.
Dignitaries including the first ladies of Cape Verde and Namibia witnessed the signing of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Bill 2024 in the capital Freetown on Tuesday. The bill was signed nearly two weeks after lawmakers passed it, in a move hailed by activists as a “historic”.
“We want to build a strong Sierra Leone together, where women have a fair platform to realize their full potential. I have always believed that the future of Sierra Leone belongs to women,” President Bio said in a speech. statement.
Under the law, any man who marries a girl under the age of 18 faces a minimum of 15 years in prison, a $4,000 fine, or both. The law also includes provisions to protect the rights of victims and ensure that affected minors have access to education and support services.
According to the nonprofit Girls Not Brides, about 30 percent of girls in Sierra Leone are married before the age of 18. About 800,000 of the country’s 8 million people are child brides, half of whom are married before the age of 15, according to UNICEF.
Human rights groups blame widespread poverty, as families end up marrying off their daughters to improve their financial situation or pay off debts. Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Health has also attributed the rise in maternal mortality to child marriages.
The African country has set the legal minimum age of marriage at 18 under the Child Rights Act 2007. However, this contradicts the Customary Marriage and Divorce Act 2009, which allows minors to marry with parental consent.
Fatou Geye Ndile, senior regional advocacy officer at Girls Not Brides, welcomed the new law as an “important step” towards addressing forced marriages in Sierra Leone and allowing girls to “live happily, safely and to their full potential”.
Human Rights Watch researcher Betty Kabali said the Prohibition of Child Marriage Bill, 2024, points the way for other African countries such as Tanzania and Zambia to “repeal laws that allow child marriage and ensure girls are able to complete primary and secondary education.”
According to UNICEF, West Africa and Central Africa have the highest rates of child marriage in the world, with nearly 60 million child brides.
In April this year, the Ghanaian authorities explain Even though the minimum age for marriage in the country is 18, they had to intervene to protect a young girl who was married to a 63-year-old traditional priest.
（RT.com）
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