Zambia

29% of Zambian girls marry before age 18 and 5% are marry before age 15.

3% of boys in Zambia marry before age 18.

Rates of child marriage vary from one region to another and are highest in the Eastern and Northern provinces, where the median age of first marriage among 20-49 year old women was 17.5 years.

According to Zambia’s Demographic and Health Surveys, child marriage rates have declined from 42% in 2002 to 29% in 2018.

A 2017 World Bank/ICRW study estimated that ending child marriage in Zambia could result in USD68.2 million gains in productivity for the country.

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

In Zambia, child marriage is also driven by:

● Poverty: With 60% of the Zambian population living in poverty, child marriage is sometimes used as a way of reducing the perceived financial burden a girl places on her family and to receive money through the payment of lobola (bride price). Some girls see marriage as a way of escaping challenging economic circumstances and responding to their own basic needs.

● Adolescent pregnancy: 29% of girls aged 15-19 have been pregnant in Zambia, and child marriage is sometimes seen as a coping mechanism to deal with attached social stigma. Whilst in some communities, such as Katete and Mufulira, families are starting to encourage damage payments from the father, marriage is still the “cheaper” option.

● Orphanhood: When orphans reach puberty, some families think their duty of care has been met and marry them off. Orphans and step-children are reportedly widely mistreated, and marriage is sometimes seen as an escape from intolerable living situations.

● Gender norms: Marriage is sometimes used to control what is perceived to be inappropriate behaviour among girls, such as having multiple sexual partners and staying out late and frequenting bars. It is also used to protect girls from HIV and pregnancy.

● Harmful practices: Practices such as polygamy also drive child marriage in Zambia, as girls are married off to older men as second or third wives.

● COVID-19: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on some of the poorest households and has exacerbated the vulnerability of children. The pandemic exposed vulnerable families to loss of financial income pushing them further into poverty and exclusion. In Zambia, during the pandemic, 20% of children living in Katete and Senanga districts could not access distance learning. A majority of schools (143 of the 500 schools surveyed) reported incidences of adolescent pregnancy and child marriage.

Zambia 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 2023 High Level Political Forum. In this report, the government continues to attribute adolescent pregnancy and increasing child marriage rates to low education enrolment. The government acknowledges that more resources need to be invested in implementing a re-enrolment programme for girls and comprehensive sexual and reproductive health education. In an effort to eliminate child marriage, the government enacted the Children’s Code Act No. 12 of 2022. Section 18 (2) (a) of the Act makes it an offence, punishable under Zambian law to engage in child marriage.

The government submitted a Voluntary National Review at the 2020 High Level Political Forum. In this report, the government attributed the low education enrolment rates on harmful practices and child marriage and the preference of boys going to school instead of girls. Government interventions have been aimed at reducing adolescent pregnancy rates and early marriage. In 2018, the national average dropout rate from Grade 1 to 7 was 1.7% compared to 1.2% from Grade 8 to 12. At primary school level, more girls were dropping out of school (1.9%) in comparison to boys (1.4%). In order to address child marriage, the government is working with stakeholders to implement the National Strategy on Ending Child Marriage.

Zambia has been one of the earliest countries that have championed efforts to tackle child marriage internationally. Zambia co-sponsored the following Human Rights Council resolutions on child marriage: the 2013 resolution on child, early and forced marriage, the 2015 resolution to end child, early and forced marriage, recognising that it is a violation of human rights, the 2017 Human Rights Council resolution recognising the need to address child, early and forced marriage in humanitarian contexts, the 2019 Human Rights Council resolution on the consequences of child marriage. In 2014, Zambia also signed a joint statement at the Human Rights Council calling for a resolution on child marriage.

Zambia co-sponsored the 2013, 2014, 2016, 2020 and 2022 UN General Assembly resolutions on child, early and forced marriage. Zambia also co-led with Canada the 2018 UN General Assembly resolution on child, early and forced marriage. At UNGA 2018, the two countries organised a high-level side event on “Accelerating Efforts to Eliminate Child Marriage in Africa by 2030” where the Head of State of Zambia called for effective and concrete actions to accelerate efforts to end child marriage in Africa.

Zambia ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1991, 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 1985, which obligates states to ensure free and full consent to marriage.

In 2022, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child raised concerns about the extent of child marriage exceptions under the Marriage Act and the existence of customary marriage law which allow for a child to marry once they have reached puberty. The Committee urged that the government remove all exceptions for marriage below the age of 18 years. The Committee also urged the government to ensure that the Children’s Code Bill includes provisions on child participation, particularly on issues pertaining to child marriage and sexual and reproductive health. Further to this, the Committee encouraged the government to provide adequate funding towards resources to implement a comprehensive National Strategy on Ending Child Marriage, as well as strengthen awareness-raising campaigns and programmes on the harmful effects of child marriage. It was recommended that this is implemented by targeting local traditional and religious leaders, local authorities, educators, judges and local law enforcement authorities.

In 2016 the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child raised concerns about the extent of child marriage in Zambia. It recommended that the government disseminate the Marriage Act widely at the local level and raise awareness on the harmful consequences of child marriage among parents, teachers and community leaders.

During its 2022 Universal Periodic Review, the Human Rights Council acknowledged the governments measures to end child marriage, such as the adoption of the Children’s Code Act No. 12 of 2022. This Act prohibits subjecting a child to child marriage or any other harmful practices that will have a negative impact on a child’s health, social welfare, physical and psychological development and dignity.

During its 2018 Universal Periodic Review, Zambia supported recommendations to take all necessary measures to accelerate implementation of the Marriage Bill (2015) and to end child marriage.

Zambia has also been a leader of efforts to end child marriage at the African Union level. In November 2015, the country co-hosted the first ever African Girls’ Summit on Ending Child Marriage and in 2016 it hosted a review meeting of the African Union Campaign to End Child Marriage in Africa.

In 1992 Zambia signed, but has not yet ratified, the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, including Article 21 regarding the prohibition of child marriage. In 2006 Zambia 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.

Zambia is one of 20 countries which 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, Zambia committed to end harmful practices against women and girls, including ending child marriage by 2030 by introducing the Southern African Development Community (SADC) model law on ending child marriage, and accelerating the implementation of the National Strategy on Ending Child Marriage and other policy and legislative frameworks.

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

Zambia 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.

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

In August 2022, the government enacted the Children’s Code Act No. 12 of 2022. This Act represents the government’s willingness and commitment to end all forms of violence against children, child protection and the prohibition of child marriage.

In 2020, the Government of Zambia, through the Ministry of Gender and Facility for Poverty and Hunger Alleviation (IBSA Fund) supported the implementation of the Reducing Child Marriage in Malawi and Zambia program. The programme focuses on implementation of the African global commitments to end child marriage as a way of achieving the broader goals of alleviating poverty and achieving gender equality to contribute to Agenda 2063 and SDGs 2030. The Ministry of Gender in Zambia and Malawi adopt a multidimensional approach to addressing child marriage by building capacity, advocacy, awareness and awarding scholarships to an estimated 1,800 child marriage survivors.

In March 2016, the government adopted a National Strategy on Ending Child Marriage in Zambia (2016-2021) with the aim of reducing child marriage by 40% by 2021. The Ministry of Gender is responsible for launching and implementing the accompanying costed National Action Plan (NAP). The National Strategy has five objectives:

Strengthen multi-sectoral responses to reduce children's vulnerability to marriage.

Develop and review policies and legislation to ensure consistent interpretation of child related interventions;

Facilitate positive change in prevailing negative attitudes, behaviours, beliefs and practices to reduce the incidence of child marriage;

Facilitate the provision of child-sensitive services.

Mobilise financial resources to enable the implementation of programmes.

An Advocacy and Communication Strategy (2018 – 2021) has also been developed to support objective 3 –to improve knowledge and facilitate positive change of parents, children and communities, and strengthen the capacity of local stakeholders to act as change agents.

At district level, two Action Plans to End Child Marriage (with costed multi-sectoral operational frameworks) were launched in Senanga and Katete in 2018 by UNICEF to serve as pilots for the implementation of the NAP.

The launch of the NAP was reinforced with the launch of the Adolescent Health Strategy 2017–2021 by the Ministry of Health. The strategy gives policy guidelines on how the government and partners should work together towards securing the health status of adolescents.

Zambia’s seventh National Development Plan (2017-2021) includes child marriage related interventions and has helped to institutionalise efforts to address child marriage across ministries and budgets.

In 2019, the President of Zambia hosted a high-level event within the framework of African Union Campaign to end Child Marriage where the “Traditional and Cultural Leaders movement to end child marriage and FGM/C in Africa” was launched, recognising the key role of traditional leaders as catalysts in the efforts to end child marriage.

In 2018, the National Assembly of Zambia organised, in collaboration with the Inter-Parliamentary Union, a Parliamentary Seminar “Parliamentarians Take Action to End Child, Early, and Forced Marriage”. Participants included both women and men MPs and other stakeholders, who agreed that child marriage is a human rights violation prevalent in Zambia and discussed effective parliamentary responses to this practice.

In 2014 the Ministry of Chiefs and Traditional Affairs (MOCTA), in collaboration with the Graça Machel Trust, held a National Symposium on Child Marriage.

Previously, in 2013 the government launched a nationwide campaign to end child marriage. Spearheaded by the MOCTA, the campaign prioritised engagement with traditional leaders and law reform. The UN and World Vision were active in supporting this.

Zambia 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 Global Programme to end child marriage established:

95,000 girls participated in life skills or child sexual exploitation programmes.

10,713 girls were supported to remain or enrol into primary or secondary education.

1 million boys and girls were reached through social media messaging regarding child marriage, gender equality and girls’ rights.

The Children’s Code was enacted which prohibits harmful practices and the facilitation of child marriage.

Programmes in Katete, Sesheke, Mwandi, Lundazi, Chama and Senanga.

94,616 girls were provided with a safe space with information on sexual and reproductive health, financial education, positive cultural norms and positive decision-making skills.

1,194 girls received re-usable pads in order to encourage them to remain in education. 50 schools (25 in Senanga and 25 in Katete) were provided with re-useable pads in order to encourage menstrual hygiene.

17,450 boys were reached in the gender-transformative initiative, “Coaching Boys into Men (CBIM)”, which raised awareness and educated young men and boys between the ages of 10-24 years on issues surrounding sexual and reproductive health, and gender-based violence.

In 2018, the Global Programme supported more than 3500 girls with life skills education intended to keep girls in school, and more than 31,000 people participated in community dialogues promoting gender equitable norms including delaying child marriage.

Under the children Children's Code Act (2022) the minimum legal age of marriage is 18 years, with no exceptions