CHILD MARRIAGE ITS BONDAGE,

By Daily News Reporter

Despite Zambia being one of the earliest countries to champion efforts to end child marriage, the country still has parents who think Child marriage is the key to success.

Child marriage can be defined as marriage of a person below the age of eighteen.

Shockingly, The State of the World’s Children 2023 report by UNICEF highlights the importance of childhood immunization. It introduces three children—Marwan, Hind, and Iman—who have benefited from vaccination. These stories underscore the child survival revolution. However, the report also reveals that many children, especially in marginalized communities, still lack essential vaccinations. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted immunization efforts, resulting in a loss of progress. We must act urgently to ensure no child is left behind.

Additionally, UNICEF emphasizes the need to end child marriage by 2030. The international community committed to this goal through the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The report “Towards ending child marriage: Global trends and profiles of progress” analyzes historical trends and focuses on countries that have made significant strides in reducing child marriage prevalence2. Despite progress, crises like conflict, climate shocks, and COVID-19 threaten to reverse gains shows that about 7% of women are married by the age of 15 and 31% are married by 18 years.

In a country where Government is committed to end child early and forced marriage by 2030 in line with target 5.3 of sustainable development goals, people, especially parents should take up a lead role in insuring children are protected from bondage of child marriage.

It is called bondage because it robes the children their freedom to play children games and make them adhere to the programmed set of tradition needed to be observed by a mature married woman.

A divorced 36-year-old woman of Sansamwenji of Isoka district, Natalie Nankamba said she got married at 17 years because of pregnancy and she described her former marriage a bondage and a ring of torcher.

She said when she married at 17, she didn't know what was expected of her from the husband or the in-laws.

Natalie recalls that immediately she was taken to live with her mother in-law, all house chores were assigned to her.

She said she had no time to rest, neither did she had any right to get tired or complain to the In-laws about the bad treatment she received.

“I could go to the farm and cultivate with my six to seven months old pregnancy. “She said.

“My mother in-law used to talk a lot and she will shout at me if I dare to stretch up." She added.

"It was then that I realized that life has become a bondage due to marriage and only I can do something about it." She added.

Natalie endured her abusive marriage for thirteen years until she finally gave up in 2013.

She has five children from the marriage, and she wants them all educated and independent before getting into marriage.

She encouraged parents to rather charge damage and keep the girl that send her into forced marriage citing that child marriage was child bondage in disguise.

Parents should desist from sending their children into marriage and send them to school to acquire formal education which will in future raise the standard of life of the family.