Child marriage. 126 girls rescued in 57 communities in the Upper East
A total of 126 girls who were victims of child marriage from 57 communities in the Upper West Region have been rescued and sent back to school by the Community-Based Anti-Violence Team (COMBAT) and Action Aid Ghana.
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This figure, according to the Project Coordinator of Action Aid Ghana, Ms She-Vera Anzagira, meant more young girls mostly between the ages of nine and 15, including schoolchildren, are forcefully married off against their will, preference and choice.
Ms Anzagira made this known in an interview with The Mirror when ActionAid Ghana outdoored the End Child Marriage Project ambassador in Accra.
She noted that the practice of Child marriage in Ghana was real and cuts across all the 10 regions of Ghana, noting that ‘on average, one out of four girls in Ghana is married before their 18th birthday and one out five is married before age 15’.
According to the Country Director for ActionAid Ghana, Mr Sumaila Abdul-Rahman, 21 per cent of girls in Ghana are married before they are 18 but rates can be as high as 39 per cent in the Northern part of the country.
‘Prevalence is highest in the Upper East with 50 per cent, followed by Upper West with 39 per cent, Northern, 36 per cent and Volta, 33 per cent.
The Brong Ahafo Region with 33 per cent, Central Region, 28 per cent; Ashanti Region, 23 per cent; Western Region, 18 per cent; Eastern Region, 18 per cent; and Greater Accra Region, 11 per cent,’ he said.
Out of this figure, he noted that only 13.6 per cent of these girls, forced into marriage use contraceptive.
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The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) warns that more than 140 million girls worldwide will become child brides by 2020 if the current trend continues.
The International Centre for Research on Women (ICRW) also notes that one-third of girls in the developing world are married before the age of 18 and one in nine are married before the age of 15.
End Child Marriage Project
To arrest this situation, the winner of the 2014 edition of Ghana’s Most Beautiful pageant, Ms Abigail Baciara Bentie, has been outdoored as the ambassador of the ‘End Child Marriage Project’ to combat against the menace.
As an indigene of the Upper West Region, BACCI, as she is affectionately called, is charged with the responsibility to reduce socio-cultural practices that facilitate the incidence of child marriages in the targeted communities.
She is also expected to build the capacities of girls aged 12-17 to claim their rights, resist child marriage and focus on education.
The End Child Marriage Project is an initiative of ActionAid Ghana with support from UNICEF.
The project is being implemented in over 120 communities in four regions where child marriage is most prevalent such as the Upper East, Upper West, Brong Ahafo and Greater Accra regions.