Newsday - Zimbabwe April 1, 2011
Chiefs defend girl-child marriages
PRIDE GONDE | HARARE
Chief Chiduku, a senator for Manicaland this week stunned a Parliamentary Portfolio Committee when he said there was nothing wrong with marrying off underage girls.
He said this during a committee hearing where male gender activists, Varume Svinurai/Vhukani Madoda Men’s Forum had appeared before the Thematic Committee on Gender and Development to give oral evidence on children’s rights.
The male gender activists had castigated cultural practices where young girls in some parts of Zimbabwe and certain religious sects were being married off to elderly men.
They were advocating for the inclusion of clauses that protected vulnerable children in legislation to do with children’s rights and the Domestic Violence Act.
Chiduku was supported in his assertions by another chief, Tsungirirai Muzerengwa senator for Buhera.
Chief Chiduku and Chief Muzerengwa are both members of the apostolic faith sect.
“You mentioned that the people in Chipinge and the apostolic sects are breaking the law by marrying off underage girls,” said Chief Chiduku. “But it is their culture and religion that you are condemning.”
He challenged the men’s forum to suggest which age they thought was ripe for girls to get married.
He said at 16 years, most girls were unable to look after themselves and therefore needed to get married.
“If a girl is 16 years, she is unable to take care of herself and so she should get married,” chief Chiduku said. “Members of the sect who marry these young girls really take care of them. Besides, these girls undergo virginity tests and whether they are virgins or not, those members of the sect who marry them take good care of them.”
However, Temba Nzounhenda, the organising secretary of the Men’s Forum stood his ground in defending the rights of the girl child and said the law stipulated that a 16 year old girl was underage.
Fred Misi, the chairman of the Men’s Forum said it was imperative to make virginity testing compulsory for all girls under 16 as a way of identifying those who might have been abused them with a view to punishing the perpetrators.
This article was found at:
RELATED ARTICLES:
Zimbabwe advocates campaign against widespread child 'marriages' in Christian sect that practices polygamy
GENDER-ZIMBABWE: Religion and Poverty Force Girls into Early Marriages
Child 'marriages' rampant in Middle East and North Africa despite most countries having minimum age laws
Saudi Arabia's strange paradox - 10 year old girls can be 'married' but adult women can be prevented from marrying
12-year-old child 'bride' dies during painful child-birth, baby dies too
Broken lives: Nigeria's child brides who end up on the streets
Child-Sex Case Grips Turkey Amid Religious Young-Brides Split
Revised Afghan marriage law still allows child brides and violence towards women
UN report says child brides, forced marriage, slavery, extreme violence against women widespread in Afghanistan
Malaysian conference considers the problems of child brides in a progressive Islamic state
Malaysian government says it cannot legislate against child marriages allowed under Sharia law, activists disagree
Two Malaysian child 'brides' separated from their 'husbands' while religious authorities investigate Islamic cult
Indonesian Muslim cleric gets 4 years for child 'bride' sex abuse, court uses child protection law instead of marriage law
Child 'brides' common in rural Indonesia despite harsh laws, Muslim cleric who 'married' girl faces soft sentence
Indonesian child-abuse police to investigate wealthy Muslim cleric
Indonesian religious teacher married to 12 year old, plans to marry two other minors
Indonesian court acquits Muslim cleric who claimed Islam allowed him to marry 12 year old girl
Indonesian child protection system ill-equipped to deal with religion related child abuse
Indonesian Women's Association divided on whether polygamy, which is legal in Indonesia, is harmful to women and children
Don’t use religion to justify abuse!
Sharia law in UK gives Muslim women a chance to escape unhappy marriages, but fails to grant them equal status
Child brides, lost boys and a jailed 'prophet': life inside the FLDS, a Mormon polygamist community
Book excerpt from Daphne Bramham's The Secret Lives of Saints: Child Brides and Lost Boys in Canada's Polygamous Mormon Sect
FLDS Polygamy Survivors: We didn’t have baby dolls as children. We had real babies instead.
Tony Alamo appeal of child sex abuse convictions set to start, parents still hiding 90 children from authorities
Child brides, lost boys and a jailed 'prophet': life inside the FLDS, a Mormon polygamist community
FLDS Polygamy Survivors: We didn’t have baby dolls as children. We had real babies instead.
Missing: 12 children caught up in Australian doomsday cult that practices child 'brides' & stock-piles weapons for end of world
No comments:
Post a Comment