MALAWI CHAPTER

Child marriage is a global human rights tragedy:

action to end Child, Early and Forced Marriage.

Let us harness

In December 2014, the Girls Not Brides (GNB) will proudly launch the Malawi Chapter
at an event to be held at Kolowiro Primary School Ground in Kasamba Village in
Senior Chief Dzooles Area in Dowa District.
In order to strengthen the paramount importance of its mandate and launch, the
leadership of the GNB Malawi Chapter has invited and is expecting to be joined by top
Government Officials, Donor Agencies, Diplomats, Civil Society Organisations (CSO)
leaders and other various key stakeholders to simultaneously launch GNBs End Early,
Forced and Child Marriage Campaign in Malawi.
GNB Malawi Chapter exits to complement Government efforts to eliminate the evil of
forcing, persuading, enticing or manipulating the Girl Child to get married and carry the
burden of bearing children before the international legal marriage of 18 years.
International Day of the Girl Child; 11th October and 16 Days of Activism.
GNB Malawi Chapter joins the rest of the stakeholders to commend the Malawi
Government for participating in the global commemoration of the International Day of
the Girl Child which falls on October 11 every year. The theme for this years
commemoration and campaign is Empowering the Adolescent Girls Ending the
Cycle of Violence
The theme which has been stated in the above resonates very well with the objective of
the expressive 16 Days of Activism which is relived every year from November 25 to
December 10. The GNB Malawi Chapter is cognizant of the fact that in order to
entrench the notion that Gender Based violence is an infraction of fundamental human
rights; emblematically the span of 16 Days of Activism commences on International Day
of Ending Violence against Women and ends on International Human Rights Day.

As we are aware, the 16 Days of Activism is an episode through which amplified voices
are made from different audiences, calling for sustainable end to domestic gender
violence. Additionally, this is the time when the Governments are dully reminded that
they have obligations to design robust and clearly defined responses which seek to
protect and prevent domestic gender violence especially against women who are more
vulnerable.
The 16 Days of Activism is a concept which emerged in 1991 at the end of the first ever
Womens Global Leadership Institute. The main thrust of the campaign and action are :
Raising awareness about gender based violence as a human rights issue,
Strengthening local work around violence against women,
Establishing and providing links for sharing information and best practices,
Demonstrating solidarity around the world behind the brave women who are
mounting resistance against any form of violence against women
Emerging with efficient and effective tools for engaging and/or exerting pressure on
Government to implement process which will give rise to eliminating violence against
women.
Since 1991 the 16 Day of Activism has received incredible support such that not less
than 1700 Organizations around 130 countries now subscribe to the philosophy.
The theme for this year is captivating and profoundly persuasive: Peace Begins at
Home: End Violence, Empower Women. The intelligent selection of the theme was
motivated by the Gender Based Violence Indicator which makes revelations that
naturally gender based violence is largely located behind closed doors and is
disturbingly perpetrated by family and intimate partners. By extension, the designers of
the theme recognized the opportunity empowering women in order to mitigate the
intensity of domestic gender violence.
GNB Malawi Chapter seeks to submit that by virtue of statistics that not less than
15million girls are married every year before they are aged 18 with little or no say at all
about the decision, the themes selected for 16 Days of Activism and International Day
of Girl Child are thus pointing at ending child marriage in the world.
In the same vein, GNB Malawi Chapter seeks to submit that by virtue of statistics that in
developing countries like Malawi, 1 in every 9 girls gets married before they are aged 15
years old, others younger than that, the themes selected for 16 Days of Activism and
International Day of Girl Child are both pointing at ending child marriage.

If present trends continue, 142 million girls will be married before their 18th birthday
over the next decade. That is an average of over 14.2 million girls each year.
It is not surprising that US Senator Dick Durbin referred to Early, Forced and Child
Marriages as a global human rights tragedy.
The Girls Not Brides Malawi Chapter is optimistic that with harmonious working
relationship with Government, Private Sector, Traditional Leaders, Local Leaders and
communities in general, together the Child, Early and Forced Marriage catastrophe can
be seen to be diminishing and subsequently eliminated
GNB Malawi Chapter acknowledges that gender based violence, early or child
marriages and empowerment of women and adolescent girls cannot be divorced from
each other.
In a world where applied knowledge is power, it is crucial that we afford our girl children
the right to complete their basic education and therefore be better placed to make free
and informed decisions concerning their future, their choice of partner and the timing
and consequences of entering into the binding commitment of marriage.
Child marriage impacts directly on six of the eight millennium development goals,
namely: poverty, education, gender equality, maternal and child health, and HIV/AIDS.
Some of the basic rights that are infringed upon through child marriage include:
The right to an education.
The right to be protected from physical and mental violence, injury or abuse,
including sexual abuse, rape and sexual exploitation.
The right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health.
The right to rest and leisure, and to participate freely in cultural life.
The right to not be separated from parents against the child's will.
The right to protection against all forms of exploitation affecting any aspect of the
childs welfare.
The right to eventual employment
What can be done?
There are a variety of available services including crisis services, shelter, psycho-social
support, advocacy, legal counseling, first aid or emergency health services, and
rehabilitation and re- integrated children. However, the organizations that provide these
services are concentrated in a few areas hence young girls in most parts of the country
do not have access to these them. Barriers such as distance to service locations, cost
of transportation, and both formal and informal fees prevent some women from
accessing the services.

While there are significant scattered efforts to end violence and to provide services to
survivors of violence, GNB has identified the following gaps for adolescent survivors of
violence:
Inconsistent level of services for GBV survivors: There is not a consistent level of
service options available to adolescent victims of GBV throughout Malawi.
Lack of access to safe shelter: Many adolescent girls in the country do not have
access to safe shelter if needed.
Local authorities lack skills in GBV interventions: Local authorities are on the
front line for responding to GBV, but often lack the skills needed to provide safe,
survivor-centered interventions.
Police and courts minimize GBV: The police and court authorities report having
training on the various GBV laws, however, they routinely do not respond to
cases deemed not serious.
Lack of protocols for GBV identification and response in health care system: The
health care system in Malawi does not specifically target GBV except in the
provision of forensic examinations.
Cost of services: Adolescent survivors of GBV face difficulties at all levels as a
result of the cost of obtaining services. Lack of money for transportation and legal
fees sometimes prevent young girls from getting help.
Lack of understanding of the dynamics of GBV: There is a general lack of
understanding of the dynamics of the different forms of GBV. People identify the
causes of GBV as poverty and alcohol.
Confidentiality is almost non-existent amongst officials: GBV cases are routinely
discussed with third parties without permission of the survivor.
Sustainable options exist to prevent violence against adolescent girls from taking place
and to help victims break the cycle of violence, especially when avenues to economic
independence are fostered. Moreover, it is crucial that we improve the quality of training
of health care providers and service delivery in order to provide adequate health care to
young girls who have experienced violence.
The GNB Malawi Chapter would like to emphasize the need for equal access of women
and girls to legal protection and to their human rights. It is critical that gender issues be
taken into consideration in the preparation and enforcement of laws and legal training,
and that public awareness be developed, and provisions made for the care and
rehabilitation of victims of gender-based violence
Change will happen in the lives of girls and their immediate surroundings when families
and communities reject child marriage and embrace roles or girls beyond wedlock.
However, for parents to envision alternatives for their daughters, we also need change
on a larger scale.
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GNB Malawi Chapter will continue to advocate for policies that create an environment
that enables girls and their families to say no to child marriage. Girls must have access
to quality schools and parents must feel confident that their daughters will be safe on
their way to, from and at school. Once they have completed their education, girls need
access to jobs that can earn them a living and help them support their families. Only in
this way can we bring an end to the cycle of poverty and violence that threatens the
intellectual and social development of the majority of adolescent girls in Malawi.
For more information please contact Weston Msowoya on +265 888 977 158, or Joyce
Mkandawire on 0888 205 408

Brussels Mughogho
Chairperson for Girls Not Brides

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