Lesotho

16% of girls in Lesotho are married before the age of 18 and 1% are married before their 15th birthday.

2% of boys in Lesotho are married before their 18th birthday.

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

There is very limited information on child marriage in Lesotho, but available information suggest that it is exacerbated:

Harmful traditional practices: Cultural practices and traditions regarding child marriage often take precedence over formal legislation. According to Women and Law in Southern Africa (WLSA), some girls are being married in customary marriages to their perpetrators in cases of sexual violence, following the payment of the lobola (bride wealth) to the parents.

Lesotho has committed to eliminate child, early and forced marriage by 2030 in line with target 5.3 of the Sustainable Development Goals. As part of its 2019 Voluntary National Review at the High Level Political Forum, Lesotho reported that the country will focus on improving secondary school enrolment for boys and girls through actions such as addressing child marriage and ensuring that girls have access to information and health services. The government also recognised the role of the Ministry of Social Development to sensitise the public about children’s rights, ending child marriage and all forms of abuse.

Lesotho co-sponsored the 2017 resolution on recognising the need to address child, early and forced marriage in humanitarian contexts, and the 2018 UN General Assembly resolutions on child, early and forced marriage. In 2014, Lesotho also signed a joint statement at the Human Rights Council calling for a resolution on child marriage.

Lesotho ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1992, which sets a minimum age of marriage of 18, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1995, which obligates states to ensure free and full consent to marriage.

In 2018, the Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed concerns about the high prevalence of child marriage in Lesotho. The Committee urged the country to take measures to put an end to child marriage, including marriages under customary law, and expedite the law reform process to achieve a unified definition of the child and the prohibition of child marriage.

During its 2015 Universal Periodic Review, Lesotho supported recommendations to provide effective institutional mechanisms to prevent child marriage.

In 1999 Lesotho ratified the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, including Article 21 regarding the prohibition of child marriage. In 2004 Lesotho 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.

In October 2017, Lesotho launched the African Union campaign to end child marriage in Africa.

Lesotho is one of 20 countries which has committed to ending child marriage by the end of 2020 under the Ministerial Commitment on comprehensive sexuality education and sexual and reproductive health services for adolescents and young people in Eastern and Southern Africa.

In 2019, at the Nairobi Summit on ICPD25, the government of Lesotho committed to reduce all forms of violence against women and children by criminalising early and child marriages and harmonising all laws in line with international Conventions.

Lesotho is one of the countries where the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)/DREAMS Initiative is working to reduce rates of HIV among adolescent girls and young women.

Lesotho is a partner country of the Global Partnership for Education.

In 2019, the government of Lesotho launched the Violence Against Children Survey (VACS) with support from the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention and other partners, which will provide robust evidence to inform on the types, scope and drivers of violence against children, including child marriage, and will feed into a response plan.

As part of the African Union campaign to end child marriage in Africa, the Ministry of Social Development has conducted campaigns calling for an end to child marriage in 39 community councils out of 64. 

World Vision Lesotho, UNICEF and the Justice Ministry organised a second National Children’s Parliament in January 2017. The shadow parliamentary opposition criticised the government for its failure to enforce laws prohibiting parents and guardians from marrying off their children for money. Deputy Minister of Education, Thabang Kholumo, said that children must be given a chance to develop without being forced into early marriage.

Prime Minister, Tšitso Monokoa, highlighted that the government has done a lot to protect children and their welfare rights, making reference to the Child Protection and Welfare Act 2011, the Marriage Act 1992 and 1974, the Labour Code Act 1992 and the Education Act 2010.

During World Vision’s International Day of the Girl event in 2016, Queen Masenate of Lesotho encouraged those present to stand up to end child marriage.

Under the Marriage Act 1974 the minimum legal age of marriage is 18 years for boys and 16 years for girls. 

However, under Article 27 both boys and girls can be married before the ages of 18 and 16 years respectively with the permission of the Minister and with parental consent.

In addition, the Laws of Lerotholi (the codification of the Lesotho’s Customary Law) allows boys and girls to be married as long as they are over puberty age. 

Both the Marriage Act 1974 and the Laws of Lerotholi are in contradiction with the Children’s Protection and Welfare Act (CPWA), which makes child marriage a punishable offence.