69 pct of Chadian women married before 18: minister

In Chad, 69 percent of women aged between 20 to 49 years get married before reaching the age of 18 years, a senior official has revealed.

"This rate varies from regions and oscillates between 60 and 84 percent in provinces against 52 percent in the capital. 28 percent of women aged between 15 to 49 years are married at age 15," said Ngarmbatina Carmel Soukate, Minister for Women, Social Action and National Solidarity.

She was speaking on Sunday in N'Djamena during celebrations of the Pan African Women's Day that was held under the theme "An entrepreneurial youth with a future without child marriages."

The minister appealed for behavioural change with regards to child marriages which is a "violation of not only human rights, but also the Convention on the Rights of the Child as well as the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child."

"To fight this scourge, we need to work together: government, civil society and partners, to ensure our girls access to education, information, health services and training for the future," she concluded.

Early this year, Chad's parliament adopted a law prohibiting child marriages. The law provides for a prison sentence of between 5 to 10 years and a fine ranging from 1,000 to 10,000 U.S. dollars for anyone who contravenes it. Enditem