End Child Marriage Campagn Project

YCD and PAMODZI TINGATHE have for the past three months nullified 29 child marriages and sent the victims back to school.

According the 2015 UNICEF report, State of the World’s Children , Malawi has one of the highest rates of child, early and forced marriages in the world as it ranks ninth out of 20 countries with highest rate of child, early and forced marriages in the world as 50% of the women are getting married before the age of 18. According to the Malawi government Ministry of Gender, women and Children Affairs 2017 Report, Chikwawa and Thyolo districts have the highest rates of child, early and forced marriages in Malawi as 73% of women in the districts are marrying before the age of 18. This is leading to the following:

1. Higher maternal mortality and morbidity rates among adolescent girls in the area,

2. Increased infant mortality rates,

3. Lack of education among adolescent girls in the area and

4. Higher risk of sexual abuse and violence. Early marriage is robing girls of their rights, freedoms and choices. Child brides are more likely victims of physical and sexual abuse. This is so in that a young girl who is still struggling to understand her own anatomy is forced to have conjugal relations and often shows signs of post-traumatic stress and depression owing to sexual abuse by an older partner. Neither their bodies are prepared nor their innocent little minds. Forced sexual encounters lead to irreversible physical damage. The psychological damage cannot even be comprehended.