HARARE - The United Nations has condemned the practise of child marriage in Zimbabwe following the death of a 14-year-old girl after she gave birth at a church shrine, an incident that caused outrage among citizens and rights activists.
The case has brought to the fore the practice of child marriage within Zimbabwe's apostolic churches, which also allow polygamy.
The government has traditionally turned a blind eye to the practice of child marriage. Zimbabwe has two sets of marriage laws, the Marriage Act and Customary Marriages Act. Neither law gives a minimum age for marriage consent, while the customary law allows polygamy.
A new marriages bill that is before parliament for debate seeks to synchronise the laws, ban marriage of anyone below 18 years and prosecute anyone involved in the marriage of a minor.
The U.N. in Zimbabwe said in a statement that it "notes with deep concern and condemns strongly" the circumstances leading to the death of Memory Machaya, the 14-year-old girl from rural Marange in the east of the country.
"Sadly, disturbing reports of the sexual violation of under-age girls, including forced child marriages continue to surface and indeed this is another sad case," the U.N. said in its statement, dated Aug. 7.
One in three girls in Zimbabwe was likely to be married before turning 18 years, said the U.N., whose office in Zimbabwe groups all 25 U.N. agencies operating in the country.
Police and the country's state gender commission said they were investigating the circumstances that led to the girl's death and burial.
REUTERS