Child Marriage in Sub-Saharan Contexts. A Travesty of Justice

Simon Murote Kang'ethe

Abstract


Indeed, the phenomenon of child marriage constitutes a dire travesty of rights. This is because the phenomenon denies them the opportunity to self-determine their future through accessing education. The article systematically reviewed 26 various data sources from different African countries, using various data engines of EBSCOhost, the Web of Science, Scopus, Google Scholar, and University theses, to explore the travesty of justice meted out to the girl children upon marrying at a tender age before adulthood. The article revealed the following thematic dynamics of child marriage:   Religiously sanctioned child marriage; patriarchy as a platform for child marriage; Social Norms and Poverty as an Aggravating Factor of Child Marriages; and Child Marriage aggravates gender disparities. The article recommends enforcing national minimum -age-of-marriage policies and practices; the need for governments to criminalize child marriage and enact a free education policy to annihilate child marriages.  The article concludes by exhorting African governments to enact and implement policies and programmes ensuring compulsory education for all in the country, with a mandatory level at which all must reach while adults.

 


Keywords


Human rights denial, a travesty of justice, adolescent sexual reproductive health, intimate partner violence, gender-based violence, children’s rights

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References


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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17576/ebangi.2026.2301.01

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