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Tanzania Ruled Child Marriage Illegal 3 Years Ago. Now It's Trying to Reinstate It.
Activists are fighting to ensure the ban remains in place and is finally enforced.
By Daniele Selby
JULY 26, 2019
Why Global Citizens Should Care
More than 30% of girls in Tanzania are married before they turn 18. Child brides are often forced to leave school, bear children, and support families before they are ready, and in 2016, Tanzania’s high court ruled to outlaw child marriage. However, the government is now appealing that decision, which could put hundreds of girls at risk of being married off as children. Take action here to call on governments to #LeveltheLaw and advance gender equality.
Activists cautiously celebrated as Tanzania’s High Court ruled against child marriage in 2016. The landmark ruling raised the minimum age of marriage for girls in the country — previously 14 with a judge’s permission — to 18.
But instead of passing laws to support the ruling and creating law enforcement systems to put the policy in place, Attorney General George Masaju appealed the ruling a year later.
Since then, rights activists have remained determined to see the critical child marriage ban through, and have been fighting back against the appeal. Nonprofits, local organizations, and lawyers attended the attorney general’s appeal hearing at the Court of Appeals, the highest court, in Dar es Salaam on Wednesday to call for the ruling to be upheld.
“The government says [allowing child marriage] is meant to protect young girls who are not in school and who are active sexually so that they do not get pregnant while they are out of school and outside the institution of marriage,” Jean Paul Murunga, Equality Now's End Harmful Practices program officer, told Global Citizen.
“But the government’s argument that marriage is a form of protection for young girls really doesn’t make sense from a human rights point of view,” said Murunga, who attended the hearing.
Globally, 650 million girls and women alive today were married as children, according to UNICEF.
Child brides are often forced to leave school, bear children, and support families before they are ready. In fact, Tanzania briefly banned pregnant girls from attending school — married or not — but reached an agreement with the World Bank last November that required the government to allow pregnant girls back in schools.
More than 30% of girls are married before they turn 18 in Tanzania. The harmful practice of child marriage is perpetuated not only by cultural attitudes, but by poverty.
Poor families often marry their daughters to families they perceive to be more well off, Murunga said. Some families receive bride payments in exchange for their daughters, while others hope to marry their daughters off just to alleviate the financial strain on their family by reducing the number of mouths they have to feed.
Activists are fighting to ensure the ban remains in place and is finally enforced.
By Daniele Selby
JULY 26, 2019
Why Global Citizens Should Care
More than 30% of girls in Tanzania are married before they turn 18. Child brides are often forced to leave school, bear children, and support families before they are ready, and in 2016, Tanzania’s high court ruled to outlaw child marriage. However, the government is now appealing that decision, which could put hundreds of girls at risk of being married off as children. Take action here to call on governments to #LeveltheLaw and advance gender equality.
Activists cautiously celebrated as Tanzania’s High Court ruled against child marriage in 2016. The landmark ruling raised the minimum age of marriage for girls in the country — previously 14 with a judge’s permission — to 18.
But instead of passing laws to support the ruling and creating law enforcement systems to put the policy in place, Attorney General George Masaju appealed the ruling a year later.
Since then, rights activists have remained determined to see the critical child marriage ban through, and have been fighting back against the appeal. Nonprofits, local organizations, and lawyers attended the attorney general’s appeal hearing at the Court of Appeals, the highest court, in Dar es Salaam on Wednesday to call for the ruling to be upheld.
“The government says [allowing child marriage] is meant to protect young girls who are not in school and who are active sexually so that they do not get pregnant while they are out of school and outside the institution of marriage,” Jean Paul Murunga, Equality Now's End Harmful Practices program officer, told Global Citizen.
“But the government’s argument that marriage is a form of protection for young girls really doesn’t make sense from a human rights point of view,” said Murunga, who attended the hearing.
Globally, 650 million girls and women alive today were married as children, according to UNICEF.
Child brides are often forced to leave school, bear children, and support families before they are ready. In fact, Tanzania briefly banned pregnant girls from attending school — married or not — but reached an agreement with the World Bank last November that required the government to allow pregnant girls back in schools.
More than 30% of girls are married before they turn 18 in Tanzania. The harmful practice of child marriage is perpetuated not only by cultural attitudes, but by poverty.
Poor families often marry their daughters to families they perceive to be more well off, Murunga said. Some families receive bride payments in exchange for their daughters, while others hope to marry their daughters off just to alleviate the financial strain on their family by reducing the number of mouths they have to feed.
