Activists hail Sierra Leone child marriage ban, urge action on FGM

DAKAR, Senegal (AFP) — Sierra Leone this week adopted a landmark law banning child marriage — a move heralded by rights groups and foreign partners but leaving some activists demanding more action to end pervasive female genital mutilation (FGM) in the country.

Hundreds of thousands of girls are married before turning 18 in the West African nation, where a persistently patriarchal society puts women at risk of multiple forms of gender-based violence.

Sierra Leone has some of the highest rates of child marriage, teenage pregnancy and maternal mortality in the world.

In a major step forward, the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act criminalizes marrying girls below 18 with jail terms of at least 15 years or a fine of more than $2,000.

It also bans men from living with underage girls and sets out a compensation package for those who are married or fall pregnant before turning 18.

But the law — championed by Sierra Leone’s First Lady Fatima Maada Bio — remains silent on the harmful practice of FGM, which many see as deeply intertwined with the marrying of young girls.

“We’re saying (the law) is good work, but... you cannot be blinded to the fact that there is a practice that still perpetuates child marriage,” said Josephine Kamara, 31, advocacy director at women and girls’ activism organization Purposeful.

“If you refuse to solve it, and if you’re silenced about it, then any action to end child marriage might just be lip service,” she told Agence France-Presse in a phone interview.