A former Vice Chairperson of the United Nations (UN) Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Dr Agnes Akosua Aidoo, has expressed worry over the increasing rate of child marriages nationwide resulting in increases in child and teenage pregnancies.
She said according to the 2010 World Health Organisation (WHO) report on maternal mortality, Ghana recorded 350 maternal deaths in every 100,000 live births, indicating that a quarter of the number (88) comprised child mothers, majority of whom were also child wives.
“In our African setting, bearing children is associated with marriage without any consideration for age or whatsoever,” Dr Aidoo said, noting that ending child marriage was a positive step to help reduce maternal mortality.
Media dialogue Dr Aidoo was addressing journalists at a media dialogue on ‘ending child marriages’ in Koforidua.
The three-day dialogue was organised by the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), as part of its three-year initiative to end child marriages in Ghana.
Dr Aidoo attributed the increasing trend of child marriages to poverty, gender-based cultural practices and traditions which placed low value on girl-child development.
She also mentioned other causes as the fear of families being stigmatised resulting in giving out pregnant girls into forced marriages with those who impregnated them.
Many biological, economic and cultural factors such as poverty, malnutrition, immature reproductive tract, child marriage and gender inequities might compromise the health or life of a pregnant adolescent, Dr Aidoo said.
Showing the regional disparity in the prevalence rates of child marriages in the country, the 2011 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) reported that the Upper East, Upper West and the Northern regions recorded 36.6 per cent, 36.1 per cent and 27.6 per cent of such cases respectively.
It said the Volta, Brong Ahafo, Central and Ashanti regions also respectively recorded 29.5 per cent, 29.1 per cent , 30.5 per cent and 31.5 per cent cases of child marriages, with the Eastern, Western and the Greater Accra regions recording 27.1 per cent, 36.7 per cent and 12.0 per cent respectively.
It also said 27 per cent of women between the ages 20 and 24 were married before or were in a union before age 20 in 2011.
The 2011 MICS was conducted by the Ghana Statistical Service under the auspices of UNICEF.
Higher risk of dying Dr Aidoo said the risk of death among child expectant mothers was five times higher than teenage and adult expectant mothers, and attributed that to the inability of their immature bodies to nurture and support the delivery process.
It is against that backdrop that the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection and UNICEF-Ghana in September began a three-year initiative focused on ending child marriages in Ghana.
Victim support law In her remarks, the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Nana Oye Lithur, underscored the need for a victim support law to assist children whose rights were abused.
The sector minister acknowledged that victim support was very critical; therefore urgent steps would be taken to put in place “either a policy or legal framework on victim support”.
In Ghana, it is estimated that out of the about 80 per cent of the gender-based violence cases which were reported, only 20 per cent received psychosocial counselling or support of some sort.
The minister noted that although the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU), which is a department within the Ghana Police Service, dealt with human rights abuses towards women and children and also worked with other organisations to offer assistance and specialised help to victims, their operations needed a further boost.
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