Tema-Ghana, Nov 3, GNA – The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Ghana has tasked young people to work together, build a keen sense of diversity, speak with one voice, and support each other.
Dr. Bernadette Ssebadduka, Regional Programme Specialist of Adolescents and Youth, UNFPA West and Central Africa Region, said through collective efforts, issues influencing child marriage in the West and Central Africa Region have been identified.
Dr. Ssebadduka made the call at a youth leadership and participation workshop on ending child marriage, in Tema, for the West and Central Africa Region, to help identify issues affecting child marriage in the regions.
She said the West and Central Africa Region is 300 years behind in ending child marriage, which is based on gender and social norms.
She said those social norms encouraged children to marry or, in some instances, forced them into marriage, leading to violations of their rights.
“It is the right of everyone to grow up and decide on marriage with their partners of their choice; it is an offence to force anyone, especially children, into marriage.
“Lack of education or access to accurate information are some of the key pushers of child marriage or which trigger teenage pregnancy,” she stated.
Notwithstanding, the biggest problem that leads the youth into child marriage is poverty and social and cultural norms, of which some parents would like to see their girl child marry so early, and such situations lead them to drop out of school, associated with so many disadvantages.
Dr. Ssebadduka added that the policy formation needed to be informed and based on the evidence and voices of young people who had gone through such experiences of being forced into a marriage or child marriage.
This would help attain the sense of urgency needed to end child marriage in the region, which unfortunately found the processes of youth representation were not adequate or have not prepared youth to voice their concerns.
The UNFPA, in collaboration with UNICEF, has implemented the Global Programme to End Child Marriage (GPECM) since 2016,
Miss Nelly Wiah, a Liberian, also said the youth leadership and participation workshop had taught her about the harmful facts about child marriage in their society, and as youth, they needed to put much effort into changing such a concept, especially dealing with traditional, religious, and community leaders.
She said the youth must put much effort into working together to fight or ban early child marriage.
