Ghana joins campaign to end child marriages, FGM
The Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Nana Oye Lithur, has signed a charter declaring Ghana’s commitment to the acceleration of the momentum to end Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and Child, Early and Forced Marriages (CEFM) for all girls.
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She signed the charter when she participated in the first Girls Summit in the UK where international and domestic efforts were mobilised to end child marriage and FGM. The summit was co-hosted by UNICEF.
Situation in Ghana
According to the 2011 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), many Ghanaian girls still suffered from various forms of harmful practices including FGM and CEFM.
The data shows that although the practice was declining, as many as 7,400 (5.1 per cent) of girls aged one to 14 years in the Upper West Region had undergone FGM.
The practice is also still high amongst women aged between 15 and 49 in the Upper East and West regions with a prevalence rate of over 30 per cent.
MICS studies also showed a worrying trend of increased child marriages, especially in the Western and Central regions of Ghana.
The national average of children married before 15 years has risen from 4.4 per cent in 2006 to 5.8 per cent, translating into 548,000 in 2011.
The marriage of girls aged below 18 has increased, raising the national average from 25.9 per cent in 2006 to 27.0 per cent.
Country’s efforts
According to Nana Lithur, “Our efforts to achieve sustainable national development will be thwarted if we fail to address the issue of child marriage and FGM.”
She also said her ministry, together with other key stakeholders like parliament and the judiciary, had an arduous task in their bid to ensure that there were relevant laws that would help to achieve the set goals.
Accordingly, she said, child and forced marriage eradication “is one of our priority areas as we progressively work to promote gender equality and the welfare of the child”.
“Girls have the right to their lives, to make their own choices and a right to their freedom so that they can reach their full potential,” says Susan Ngongi, UNICEF Representative in Ghana.
“Communities and the entire country gain when we stand up against violence against children; we help preserve girls’ childhood, more children stay in school, less girls are at risk of death and we realise a more confident generation more in control of their lives,” she said.
Speaking at the summit, the UK Secretary of State for International Development, Mr Justine Greening, said “education, ambition and freedom of choice should be available to every single girl and no one deserves to suffer such serious harm by those closest to them, whether as a result of FGM or by being coerced into an unwanted marriage”.