UN condemns child marriage in Zimbabwe as girl dies after giving birth
The United Nations has condemned the practice 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 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 bill being debated by parliament seeks to synchronise the laws, ban marriage of anyone below 18 years and prosecute anyone involved in the marriage of a minor.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/08/un-condemns-child-marriage-zimbabwe-girl-dies-after-giving-birth
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Please note that the state of New York just recently raised the marriage age to 18. Also this is kind of painful to me because in my genealogical research I found a young woman in my husband's tree who was married at 15 and died shortly after giving birth at 17.