Warria Ajwang
Department of Social Work, University of the Witwatersrand.
Afr J Reprod Health. 2019 Jun;23(2):121-133. doi: 10.29063/ajrh2019/v23i2.12.
Globally, 15 million girls are married before the age of 18, with Kenya having one of the highest child marriages prevalence in the world, estimated at 25-30%. Child marriages in Kenya are rampant in rural areas. Child marriages are part of customary practices in communities where they are prevalent. Child marriages have also been used as a survival strategy by families. Child marriages compromise a child's development and threaten the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals. This paper highlights international conventions and analyses Kenyan legislative framework that have been put in place to protect children from child marriages. A review of literature was undertaken and the analysis showed that Kenya has a strong legal framework to fight child marriages and to prosecute perpetrators. However, the practice still remains rampant and is on the increase in certain areas. Indeed, child marriage policies and reproductive health measures targeting children should reflect a child-rights approach and also focus on socioeconomic vulnerabilities to address the root causes. In addition, it should be acknowledged that child protection and reproductive well-being are collective processes requiring collective responsibility and not only legislative and policy reforms.
在全球范围内，有1500万女孩在18岁之前结婚，肯尼亚是世界上童婚盛行率最高的国家之一，估计为25%至30%。肯尼亚农村地区童婚现象猖獗。在童婚盛行的社区，童婚是习俗的一部分。童婚也被家庭用作一种生存策略。童婚损害儿童的发展，并威胁到可持续发展目标的实现。本文重点介绍了国际公约，并分析了肯尼亚为保护儿童免遭童婚而制定的立法框架。进行了文献综述，分析表明肯尼亚有一个强有力的法律框架来打击童婚并起诉犯罪者。然而，这种做法仍然猖獗，在某些地区还在增加。事实上，针对儿童的童婚政策和生殖健康措施应体现儿童权利方法，还应关注社会经济脆弱性以解决根本原因。此外，应该认识到，儿童保护和生殖福祉是需要集体责任的集体过程，而不仅仅是立法和政策改革。
