Ghana

16% of girls in Ghana marry or enter into a Union before the age of 18 and 3% marry before age 15.

2% of Ghanaian boys marry before age 18.

Women in the northern region marry at the youngest age, with 9.4% of girls married before the age of 15.

The highest rates of child marriage are found in Northern (28%), Upper East (28%), Volta (24%), Western (23%), Upper West (23%), Brong Ahafo and Ashanti (17%).

Although UNICEF and UNFPA have reported a decline in child marriage rates in Ghana, it is difficult to track due to an absence of birth certificates in some areas and difficulty in proving if a girl is underage.

Child marriage is driven by gender inequality and the belief that girls are somehow inferior to boys.

In Ghana, child marriage is also driven by:

● Poverty: Parents’ inability to provide for their children has been found to be linked to child marriage. The marriage of a girl is seen as a good option to support the entire family as the dowry obtained from the marriage can be used to feed or send other children to school. For women and girls between the ages of 20 – 24, 33% from the poorest households were married before the age of 18 in comparison to 5% from the richest.

● Level of education: With limited alternatives, out of school girls are particularly vulnerable to child marriage. For girls and women between the ages of 20 – 24, 43% of girls married before the age of 18 had pre-primary or no education and 5% had secondary education.

● Harmful practices: Betrothal, elopement and abduction are forms of cultural marriages still existing in parts of Ghana, including Wa West, Lambussie, Karni and Sissala districts. Trokosi – a system of ritual enslavement whereby young virgin girls are given as payment in religious atonement – still occurs in parts of the Volta region.

● Gender norms: Gender inequality and patriarchy are underlying factors that drive child marriage in Ghana. Often, in order to ease the family’s financial burden, parents will take their daughters out of school and marry them off. 33% of women in Ghana believe that a husband is justified in beating them under certain circumstances, demonstrating deeply-ingrained power dynamics. Some men reportedly prefer to marry young girls as they are easier to control.

● Adolescent pregnancy: 75% of Ghanaian girls aged 15-19 have had a child or are pregnant. Pregnancy out of wedlock, including as a result of transactional sex, is considered a major reason to initiate a child marriage in order to preserve the respectability and honour of the family.

● Migration: Rural-urban migration of girls makes them vulnerable to men living in urban areas who take advantage of their economic situation and marry them. This is particularly common in Sissala East District, Wa West and Wa East.

● Peer pressure: Some girls reportedly encourage their friends to engage in pre-marital sex and “boast” about their marriages, which may encourage other girls to marry early.

● Female Genital Mutilation and Cutting (FGM/C): FGM/C is still used to control a perceived high libido of girls and to curb “shameful” behaviour. Puberty rites ceremonies are popular among Dipo, Krobo and Bragoro ethnic groups and sometimes symbolise a girl’s readiness for marriage. FGM/C is more prevalent in Upper West with (33%) and Upper East (13%) of women who had any form of FGM/C.

● COVID-19: Before the pandemic, girls from the poorest households in Ghana were 6 times more likely to get married as children than girls from the richest households. Since the pandemic, girls are at risk of increased sexual exploitation, gender-based violence, child marriage and adolescent pregnancy. A 2020 U-Report found a 32% increase in abusive and violent behaviour towards women.

Ghana has committed to ending child, early and forced marriage by 2030 in line with target 5.3 of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The government submitted a Voluntary National Review at the 2022 High Level Political Forum. The government reported that various vulnerabilities still affect children such as child marriage, adolescent pregnancy, domestic abuse and child labour.

During its Voluntary National Review at the 2019 High Level Political Forum, the government reported progress on this target and provided information about measures taken to end child marriage, including the adoption of a comprehensive national framework and a national strategic framework on ending child marriage, as well as other national policies for accelerating progress on gender equality and women and girls’ empowerment.

Ghana co-sponsored the following Human Rights Council resolutions: the 2013 procedural resolution on child, early and forced marriage, the 2015 resolution on child, early and forced marriage, the 2017 resolution on recognising the need to address child, early and forced marriage in humanitarian contexts, and the 2019 resolution on the consequences of child marriage. In 2014, Ghana also signed a joint statement at the Human Rights Council calling for a resolution on child marriage.

Ghana co-sponsored the 2013, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020, and 2022 UN General Assembly resolutions on child, early and forced marriage.

Ghana ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990, which the Committee on the Rights of the Child has interpreted to recommend the establishment of a minimum age of marriage of 18, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1986, which obligates states to ensure free and full consent to marriage.

In the 2022 Universal Periodic Review, Ghana hosted two high-level meetings with religious and traditional leaders across the country to sensitize and raise awareness on sexual and gender-based violence, FGM/C, child marriage, domestic abuse and their dangers. This led to an increase in reporting these harmful practices with 89 cases of child married being investigated. The government has continued to run sensitisation programmes with the support of the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, as well as the Police, and Health service on harmful practices that are discriminatory towards women and girls.

During its 2017 Universal Periodic Review, Ghana supported recommendations to strengthen policies aimed at ending harmful practices, including child marriage.

In 2005 Ghana ratified the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, including Article 21 regarding the prohibition of child marriage.

In 2007 Ghana ratified the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, including Article 6 which sets the minimum age for marriage as 18.

At the London Girl Summit in July 2014, the government signed a charter committing to end child marriage by 2020.

As a member of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), in 2017 Ghana adopted the Strategic Framework for Strengthening National Child Protection Systems under which protecting children from marriage is a priority. In June 2019, the ECOWAS Heads of State endorsed the ECOWAS Child Policy and Strategic Action Plan and the 2019-2030 Roadmap on prevention and response to child marriage.

In addition, in July 2019, the ECOWAS First Ladies signed “The Niamey Declaration: Call to End Child Marriage and to promote the Education and empowerment of Girls”, calling Member States to initiate legislative, institutional and budgetary reforms to implement the Roadmap.

Ghana is a partner country of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE).

Ghana is a focus country of the UNICEF-UNFPA Global Programme to Accelerate Action to End Child Marriage, a multi-donor, multi-stakeholder programme working across 12 countries over fifteen years.

In 2022, the UNICEF-UNFPA Global Programme:

Supported 1,081 girls who were at risk of child marriage to complete junior high school. This support included financing their tuition, boarding feeds and educational materials.

590,900 girls and boys were engaged in dialogues regarding the rights of girls, gender equality and alternatives to child marriage.

Consensus building activities on child marriage involved 4,216 community elders and religious leaders.

Implementation of safe spaces for adolescents such as the SISTAs club and Orange Girl Network, which provide safe spaces to empower adolescent girls to create and explore opportunities. The initiative was able to reach 23,024 girls between the ages of 10-19 years, across 12 different regions of Ghana. The training allowed girls to make informed decisions on issues such as child marriage, sexual and reproductive health and adolescent pregnancy.

The establishment of the ‘Am-4-Girls,’ group which is a safe space for girls encouraging them to stand up for their rights, understand their sexuality, socialise with the opposite sex, and develop ways to confidently express themselves

In 2018, the Global Programme reached 753,810 people with sensitisation activities at the community level which improved awareness of the dangers of child marriage to girls.

In 2021, the government launched the Domestic Violence Information Portal (DVIP) and the Child Marriage Information Portal (CMIP). The main aim of these portal was to provide and support data sharing amongst key stakeholders in addressed domestic abuse, sexual and gender-based violence and child marriage. Since the launch of the portal, there have been 16 recorded cases of physical abuse, 7 domestic abuse cases, and 12 sexual abuse cases.

The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection has launched a National Campaign titled ‘End Child Marriages.’ Since the launch, 5 national dialogues have been held, raising awareness on issues relating to child marriage. The campaign has used social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter with the hashtag #GhanaEndsChildMarriage. The Ministry has also developed and disseminated 1,000 copies of the national campaign.

A multi-stakeholder Ending Child Marriage Unit and Advisory Committee on Ending Child Marriage has been established by the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection. In May 2017 the Ministry launched the 2017 – 2026 National Strategic Framework on Ending Child Marriage in Ghana along with a two year work plan to roll out the strategy at national, regional and district levels.

In 2018, the government allocated 3% of its recurrent budget to the coordination and implementation of the National Strategic Framework on Ending Child Marriage, a budget allocation which is expected to be replicated over the 2019–2022 period.

The Child Marriage Unit has developed an online platform to support and engage civil society organisations to work within the National Strategic Framework. The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection has also released a resource guide on ending child marriage in Ghana.

In November 2018, Ghana hosted the Second African Girls’ Summit in Accra, in partnership with the African Union Commission. The government and partners critically appraised the progress, learning and achievements of the African Union Campaign to End Child Marriage over the last four years and advocated for increased cross-sectoral investments in adolescent girls.

In 2018, the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection launched a Five-year Strategic Plan to Address Adolescent Pregnancy in Ghana (2018 – 2022) with a view to ensuring that all Ghanaian adolescents are fully empowered to prevent early and unplanned pregnancies.

Ghana’s Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice has signed up to the Kigali Declaration on Child, Early and Forced Marriage, whereby National Human Rights Institutions specifically declare and commit to concrete action on preventing child marriage.

Ghana is one of 11 countries working to create child marriage-free communities by 2020 as part of the Her Choice Alliance. Partners of the Her Choice Alliance have reported that, thanks to governmental efforts and the favourable environment towards ending child marriage in Ghana, an increasing number of organisations are working on the field and providing education on child marriage and related issues.

In February 2016, the government launched a National Campaign to End Child Marriage as part of the African Union Campaign to End Child Marriage in Africa. On the Day of the African Child, the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection celebrated with a national commemoration in the Volga region on the theme: “Ending child marriage in Ghana through strengthening of family and community structure”.

Under the Children’s Act 1998 the minimum legal age of marriage in Ghana is 18 years with no exceptions.