Zambian Government set to criminalize Child Marriages

    Zambian Government says it was in the process of reviewing a law governing marriages in order to criminalize child marriages.

   Minister of Gender, Victoria Kalima said the government has been prompted to review  the Marriage Act because it was concerned that the problem of early marriages had continued in spite attempts to discourage it.
   The ministry, she said, had been making wide consultations on criminalizing child marriages and that so far tremendous progress has been recorded.
  According to reports, Zambia has over the years been experiencing the problem of child marriages involving girls below the age of 18, especially in rural parts of the southern African nation.
   The country has one of the highest child marriage rates in the world, with 42 per cent of women aged 20 to 24 years married before 18 years.