Child marriage is a human rights violation; girls are at a higher risk compared to the boys. Girls who are married off at an early age are likely to drop out of school, become child mothers, endure complications from child birth, and often experience gender based violence.
Approximately 650 million girls are married before their 18th birthday (UNICEF 2018) In Uganda; there are 5 million child brides of which 1.3 million are below the age of 15 years. (UNICEF global data bases 2020.) Children in Rural areas are more affected by child marriage than those in urban areas which is highly attributed to poverty and conservative cultural norms and traditions that perceive the girl child as being inferior to the male child. The poorer is the family, the more the girl would be subjected to this practice for economic purposes (World Bank, n.d)
Ending Child marriage today could generate up to $2.7 billion for Uganda in annual benefits by 2030(World Bank report 2017).
Joy for Children –Uganda and World Vision –Uganda chair the Girls Not Brides –Uganda (GNBU) a national alliance with a membership of 103 Non-Governmental Organizations at community, district, regional and national level committed to Ending Child Marriage and enabling girls fulfill their potential. It has been a key partner to the Ugandan government in implementing the National Strategy to End Child Marriages and Teenage Pregnancies. (2014/2015 -2019/2020). The strategy is currently under mid-term review with UNICEF, UNFPA and Ministry of Gender, Labor and social development. The key strategic focus areas are; improved policy and legal environment to protect children and promotion of the girl child’s rights; improved access to quality sexual and reproductive health services, education, child protection services and other opportunities; changing dominant thinking and social norms related to child marriage in the communities; empowerment of both girls and boys with correct information to enable them recognize child marriage and early pregnancy as a gross violation of their rights and take mitigating action; and coordination, monitoring and evaluation mechanisms for the implementation of the strategy.
In November 2018, GNBU convened its first ever national summit to end child marriage in Uganda and it later proceeded to the following years leading to the fourth summit that is happening on the 30th November during the 16 days of activism against Gender Based Violence at Golf Course Hotel in Kampala 2021 with pre-summit events in western, northern and south western regions. The national event will be hybrid.
GNBU joins the Generation Equality Forum which is an international initiative in favor of gender equality organized by UN Women and co-chaired France and Mexico governments in partnership with the civil society.
Covid-19 pandemic has worsened the risk factors for Violence against Children including harmful practices like child marriage, lockdowns and school closures have led to school dropouts and this has put girls at risk of teenage pregnancies. It has been estimated that 11 million girls may not return to school because of covid-19, thereby increasing their risk of child marriage. (UNICEF)
The purpose of the summit is to provide a regional and national platform where governments, civil society, UN agencies, private sector, academia, girls, policy makers, religious and cultural leaders will meet to discuss about the situation of human rights of girls in the country, provide a platform where girls voices are amplified and an opportunity to rally governments accountability towards the commitments made in promoting the rights of girls in Uganda.
