By Frank Humphreys
Human rights activist, Edward Kambanje, has warned that a child marriage law alone will not end the practice unless government strengthens enforcement of existing child protection laws and adequately funds the fight.
Kambanje was reacting to ongoing efforts by the Special Law Commission on the Development of Legislation for the Eradication of Child Marriage to develop dedicated legislation.
The Commission recently consulted stakeholders on the proposed law at a national conference in Lilongwe.
"The biggest challenge is not necessarily the absence of laws, but the gap between legal provisions and their effective enforcement," he said.
Kambanje added that although Malawi has made progress through the 2017 constitutional amendment and other child protection laws, child marriage persists because of weak enforcement, limited public awareness, poverty, gender inequality and social practices that normalise marriage involving children.
Kambanje acknowledged that a standalone law could help, but only if it is backed by implementation.
"It must be supported by effective implementation, adequate resources and accountability for those responsible for protecting children," he said.
According to the rights activist, lack of a dedicated budget line can be a major obstacle.
"Laws and policies cannot deliver results without sufficient funding: the allocation must be adequate, released on time and properly monitored,” he said, and further urged government to treat ending child marriage as a national development priority, not merely a campaign or the responsibility of NGOs.
Speaking at the Commission's national consultative conference, chairperson Lyson Kandu said the proposed law would address gaps in existing legislation and give law enforcement officers and prosecutors clear provisions for handling child marriage cases.
"The commission observed that there are gaps in the already established legal framework: We have laws that address related offences, but that specific law for child marriage was not in place, and this created problems for law enforcers," he said
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Gender, Children, Disability and Social Welfare says it is working to reduce child marriages by 20 percent by 2030, on the background that about 37 percent of Malawian girls are married before the age of 18.
Director of Child Affairs in the ministry, Justin Hamela, said the target is part of a strategic plan government developed two years ago, and he acknowledged that some legal gaps remain as some councils have very limited resources for awareness programmes, and for removing children from marriages.
"That is why we are very confident that if we continue with the initiative, we should be able to reduce child marriage by 2030,” he said.
At the same media dialogue, organised by Girls Not Brides Malawi, Carol Kulemeka, technical lead for the Malawi Accelerator Programme at Girls Not Brides Malawi, observed that the national budget has no specific allocation for ending child marriage.
"There is no investment in ending child marriage, and we must correct that,” she said.
Globally, about 12 million children are married off every year, according to reports.
Mana