Child marriage least reported crime
Child marriage cases are the least reported crimes in the country, frustrating efforts by both governmental and non-governmental agencies to curb the trend.
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The Volta Regional Director of Gender, Thywill Eyra Kpe, disclosed this in Ho last week at the opening of a two-day workshop on the theme: “Ending child marriage in Ghana – The Role of Traditional and Religious Leaders”.
Forty chiefs, queens, linguists, stool fathers and other traditional authorities, as well as ministers of religion, selected from the Avatime Traditional area in the Ho West District of the Volta Region attended the programme.
The workshop, organised jointly by the UNFPA and OBAAPA Development Foundation, was to build the capacity of the participants to make an impact in the crusade against child marriage in their communities.
Lack of data
Mrs Kpe revealed that the security agencies lacked adequate and adept data on child marriage cases and that was making matters worse for the crusade against the menace in the communities.
“This is because the communities are reluctant to report child marriage cases to the police and relevant agencies,” she noted.
The director said there was a need for traditional authorities and religious leaders to join the fight against child marriage in the communities with great zeal and enthusiasm.
She revealed that one out of every four girls and women in the region got married before turning 18, a ratio bigger than the national rate of one out of every five women and girls.
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Mrs Kpe made it clear that child marriage violated Ghana’s laws, adding that the Children’s Act made it an offence to force a child (a person under 18) to be betrothed, subjected to dowry transactions or to be married.
Advocacy
The Executive Director of OBAAPA Foundation, Nanahemaa A. Awindor, said traditional rulers and religious leaders were a strong force to reckon with, in the area of advocacy in ending child marriage in the communities.
She pointed out that forcing a child into marriage was a great injustice not only against the child but also against humanity, for which reason child marriage must be resisted at all times from all fronts.
The Osie of Avatime, Osie Adza Tekpor VII, pledged the total support of the Avatime traditional authorities to efforts to end child marriage in the country.
“The people of Avatime have always been at the forefront of women’s emancipation and child protection; so we will not tolerate child marriage for any reason,” he affirmed.