Kayayei trained as paralegals in early, forced marriage
Thirty Kayayei from Accra and Kumasi have been trained by the Federation of Women lawyers (FIDA) as paralegals in early and forced marriage.
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With the training, the paralegals are expected to advocate to end early and forced marriages, carry out public education on the effects and to make the necessary referrals.
The training was organised by the Society of Women Against AIDS (SWAA), Ghana, with support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
It was part of a project designed to empower the kayayei economically and also educate them on their sexuality as a means of reducing their vulnerability to Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and early and forced marriages.
Outdooring ceremony
At a ceremony to outdoor 15 of the paralegals at Agbogbloshie in Accra, the UNFPA Assistant Representative, Ghana, Mr M. Bawa Amadu, said everyone desired to be in a stable, healthy, productive and properly constituted marriage within the provisions of the laws of Ghana.
“We in UNFPA are convinced that no properly constituted marriages should be too early or forced,” he stated.
When the marriage is too early, many problems arise because the girls are not mature physically, mentally, psychologically and emotionally to be mothers.
Mr Amadu expanded that the child mothers-to-be faced health problems in pregnancy, ending up with difficulty in delivery, which led to fistula and sadly death in some situations.
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He stressed that society must allow every young person’s potential to be fulfilled, and appealed to the chiefs and elders in the Agbogbloshie community to support the paralegals to spread the messages they have for their peers, mothers, fathers and society in general.
Poverty is no excuse
The acting Executive Secretary of the Domestic Violence Secretariat of the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Ms Victoria Natsu, noted that many families forced their young daughters into marriages for financial gain.
She emphasised that poverty could not be accepted as the reason for early or forced marriage, and called on parents and guardians to desist from the practice.
Ms Natsu congratulated the newly trained paralegals on successfully going through the training programme and encouraged them to use their knowledge and skills to benefit not only their peers, but the whole of society.
She said the Gender Ministry, together with the UNFPA, had set up Gender Response Centres at the Agbogbloshie and Mallam Atta markets in Accra which dealt with gender-based violence and child abuse.
She advised the paralegals to work with the centres and to refer cases they were unable to handle to the police, the DOVVSU or Imams.