Early and forced marriages are common in Luapula Province, northern Zambia, where the incidence of early pregnancy and under-age marriage is estimated at about 70 percent among teenage girls, according to the UN population agency (UNFPA), which also pegs school drop-out levels at around 60 percent for girls aged 13 or 14, according to IRINnews.
This in spite of that the minimum legal age for marriage in Zambia is 18, and parental consent is required if a girl or boy is 16-17. Anyone under 16 is a minor, and defilement of a minor is a serious offence, punishable by imprisonment of up to 25 years.
EKSEMPLET PATRICIA
Patricia was 12 when she married John, four years her senior.
– My parents said they needed to benefit from my dowry before they die, and that’s how they ordered me to stop going to school and get married to him. They charged him 500,000 kwacha [US$110 = 625 d. kr.] as bride price; he paid half and they gave him a field of maize [Zambia’s staple food] to cultivate for them, she told IRIN.
After six years of marriage, Patricia has three children, has not returned to school, and is having a torrid married life.
– He beats me up very much and insults me saying my parents did not teach me properly, that I am very dirty and childish. He also has girlfriends, which I don’t like, but when I tell my parents about it, they say he will stop; they tell me that all men are like that, Patricia said.
Pascal Salimu, an UNFPA gender officer in Luapula Province, which has a population of 800,000, said poverty and tradition were behind child marriages, with the remote rural areas worst affected.
