30 years in jail for men who marry Tanzanian schoolgirls or get them pregnant
Tanzanian schoolgirls at a classroom in Zanzibar
Tanzanian men who marry schoolgirls or get them pregnant now face 30 years in prison as the government takes tougher measures to tackle child marriage and teenage pregnancy.
The east African nation has one of the highest adolescentpregnancy and birth rates in the world and 21% of girlsaged 15 to 19 have given birth, according to a 2015/16 surveyconducted by the Tanzania Bureau of Statistics.
While sex with underage girls is already a criminal offence,poor parents often marry off their young daughters for cashusing a special dispensation under the marriage law which allowsgirls as young as 14 to marry with parental or court consent.
But new provisions passed by the parliament in June make itillegal for anyone to marry primary and secondary school girlsunder any circumstances.
George Masaju, Tanzania’s Attorney General, said the newmeasure was taken to complement Tanzania’s free educationpolicy, launched in January, and ensure that all girls are ableto complete their education.
“We are aiming to create a better environment for our schoolgirls to finish their studies without any barriers,” he toldparliament.
Worldwide, 15 million girls are married off as childrenevery year. Early marriage not only deprives girls of education andopportunities but increases the risk of death or seriouschildbirth injuries if they have babies before their bodies areready.
Child brides are often disempowered and at greater risk ofdomestic and sexual violence and HIV, experts say.
“Girls who are married off at a young age are being deniedthe freedom to make informed decisions later in life,” said EdaSanga, head of the Tanzanian women’s rights group TAMWA.
The new Tanzanian law states that “any person who impregnates a primary school or a secondary school girl commits an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable to imprisonment for a term of 30 years.”
To ensure enforcement of the law, Masaju said all schoolheads will be required to submit a detailed report aboutstudents who were married or pregnant to the Education Ministry.
While the government’s move focuses on protecting schoolgirls from “predators”, women’s rights campaigners said greaterrecognition of the importance of girls’ education is crucial tothe battle against child marriage.
“I think we ought to focus on imparting life skills to girlsin school, so that they can be assertive to say no,” said LeilaSheikh, a Dar es Salaam-based women’s rights activist andblogger.
And girls who are kicked out of school for getting pregnantshould be allowed to return to their studies after giving birth,said 21-year-old Emily Nyoni, who was expelled from her Dar esSalaam school in 2012 after falling pregnant.
“I think it is wise to punish men who impregnate schoolgirls,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “But thegovernment should also allow those who get pregnant to go backto school.”
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