Rundu
Minister of Gender Equality and Child Welfare Doreen Sioka says child marriages expose children prematurely to sexual contact and the possibility of being infected with sexually transmitted diseases, such as HIV/AIDS.
Early sex also puts female children at risk of teenage pregnancies and the resultant negative health consequences.
The gender and child welfare minister was speaking at a celebration on the Day of the Namibian Child at Kahenge Tribal Office on Monday, with a number of schoolchildren in attendance.
Kahenge is located nine kilometres east of Nkurenkuru in Kavango West Region.
The day was celebrated across the country under the theme, “25 years after adoption of the African Children’s Charter: accelerating our collective efforts to end child marriage in Namibia.”
“The worst thing about child marriage is that it exposes children to sexual exploitation, trafficking, abduction and child labour. Simply put, child marriage is a serious form of gender-based violence,” she said.
“Therefore, fellow Namibians, with all the disadvantages of child marriages facing our children, my call on parents, foster parents, uncles, traditional leaders and the Namibian nation at large is: let us stop this practice when we spot it! Stop it, stop it!”
Sioka said in Namibia incidents of child marriage are hidden in our villages, as well as homesteads, as children are married off at a tender age.
This, according to her, is allowed to happen because Namibians are too respectful of their elders, or because a man has a job or status, or a certain title in his community.
She said child marriage does not only violate the child’s right to enjoy their childhood, but also violates their right to freely association with other people.
It further deprives the child of their right to privacy, their right to education, as well as the right to protection against abuse and torture. Child marriages also violate the child’s right to parental care and protection, she pointed out.
“I’m sure some of you are now thinking, ‘How can a child get married?’ and that is exactly the point I want to make. In some communities you find out that a child, meaning a person under 18 years old, is given into a relationship – mainly by their parents, family or caregiver – and then becomes the spouse of a much older person,” Sioka explained.
“The fact that it is a child that becomes an older person’s husband or wife is already bad, but the saddest part is that most of the children that find themselves in marriages are girls,” he said.
“Our girls are in many instances made vulnerable by these harmful cultural practices and beliefs that we have,” said the gender equality minister.
In the same vein she urged children to refrain from using alcohol and drugs, as it makes them more vulnerable to unprotected sexual acts.
“You should respect yourself, be proud of your body, respect your parents and teachers and any elder person, but first take care of your body. Take care of yourself, don’t sleep around once you are drunk. Don’t even drink and say no to sex,” she advised the young.