Constitutional Court Criminalizes Child
Marriages
Vapositori
sect members are in trouble after the Constitutional Court today declared
marriages of girls who are under the age of 18 years, illegal.
Leading a
full bench of the Constitutional Court on Wednesday Justice Florence Ziyambi
ruled that no woman or man can be married before attaining the age of 18.
The
ruling comes after Tendai Biti a member of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human
Rights had approached the Constitutional Court representing Loveness Mudzuru
and Ruvimbo Tsopodzwa, who were married before the age of 18, and he was
challenging that early marriages violate the country’s new constitution.
Justice
Ziyambi said, “the application has succeeded and with effect from 20th January
2016 registration of marriages under the age of 18 customarily or religiously
is illegal and it is inconsistent with the constitution of Zimbabwe.”
Speaking
to journalists after the land mark judgment Biti said he was happy to be part
of “this history”.
“I think
is an amazing judgment and the court should be congratulated for taking such a
bold decision,” said Biti.
“I had
feared that the court would leave that to the legislature but sometimes when
the legislature is in differences the courts play their part and today the
Constitutional Court of Zimbabwe played its part”.
“So I
am very proud to be part of this history, and if know that the struggle for
women’s emancipation is far from over; but this is a far reaching decision and
a very important decision,” he said.
Source: State Media
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