Off the wire
• 10 top-notch UK stage plays to screen in China  • Indonesia to commence Ramadan on June 18  • 145 Philippine Muslim rebels undergo decommissioning  • Armenian capital ready to assist flood-stricken Tbilisi  • China to become largest cross-border e-commerce market by 2020: report  • 1 security officer killed, 4 injured near Algerian border attacks  • Feature: Batswana employee witnesses Chinese firm's development  • Thailand seeks to extradite lese majeste suspect from New Zealand  • Mainland trade association opens Taiwan office  • Political advisors suggest fine-tuning during 2016-2020 plan  
You are here: 　 Home

UN stresses education in tackling child marriages

Xinhua, June 16, 2015 Adjust font size:

The United Nations (UN) children's agency said on Tuesday that education was one of the strategies that could have lasting results in the fight against child marriages in Africa.

"Education is one single strategy, which can have telling results in the fight against child marriage along with other strategies. We believe that children have to enroll in school at the right time, stay in school and finish secondary school. These help children to delay the age of marriage," United Nations Children Emergency Fund (UNCEF) Representative in Zambia Hamid El- Bashir Ibrahim, said in remarks delivered during the commemoration of the Day of the African Child.

The theme for this year's Day of the African Child is 'Ending Child Marriages'.

The official said the provision of quality primary and secondary education was cardinal in addressing the challenge of child marriages, adding that the vice has remained one of the brutal reality for millions of girls across the African continent which was denying them the right to live healthy and fulfilling lives.

"As we commemorate this day we are being reminded that Africa has the second highest rates of child marriage in the world after South Asia. The magnitude of violations occasioned in a single act of marrying off a child cannot be underestimated," he added.

The African Union (AU) has come up with a campaign to end child marriages in Africa and is encouraging governments across the continent to set the minimum age of marriage at 18 years. The campaign also focuses on strengthening families and communities to protect their children, ensuring they have access to key information and services of quality.

AU Commission Chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said in a statement emailed to Xinhua that countries in Africa should not downplay or neglect the harmful practice of child marriage, saying it has longterm and devastating effects on the girls.

Child marriages are being fueled by many social and economic factors in many African communities such as poverty, lack of education, gender stereotyping, discrimination and negative religious practices, resulting in millions of the girls being married off before their 18th birthday.

This year's Day of the African Child coincides with the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child and provides an opportunity to reinforce the commitment by African governments to children's rights. Endi