The Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE) and the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of Children (ACERWC) have called for immediate action to enforce laws that protect the rights of children.
FAWE and the ACERWC forum of civil society organisations (CSOs) made the call as they launched a documentary that highlights the impact of teenage pregnancies in Africa.
The 12-minute documentary, titled Her stolen childhood, showcases the experiences of pregnant teenagers, including those impregnated when countries were on lockdown as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
For example, over 1,500 teenage girls in South Sudan were either married off or impregnated during the lockdown, according to a study conducted by the Support Peace Development Initiative Organisation (SPIDO).
The SPIDO report, launched in the first week of September 2020, found alarming rates of early child marriages, pregnancies and prostitution in the Equatoria region.
SPIDO noted that at least 1,535 cases of child marriages and teenage pregnancies were documented following the closure of schools in mid-March.
South Sudan’s legal marital age is 18, but the country has for long grappled with high rates of early and forced marriages.
Pregnancies among girls less than 18 years of age have irreparable consequences. It violates the rights of girls, with life-threatening consequences in terms of sexual and reproductive health, continuity in education and poses high development costs for communities, particularly in perpetuating the cycle of poverty.
The documentary provides a glimpse of the experiences that pregnant teenagers go through.
Also, it highlights the processes put in place by the African Union (AU) and civil society organisations (CSOs) to ensure that girls enjoy their rights.
‘The Covid-19 situation…has seen a high increase in teenage pregnancies and caused mainly by school closures’, FAWE Deputy Executive Director, Teresa Omondi-Adeitan, said in a statement announcing the launch of the documentary.
‘The statistics available on the increase in these cases are proof that girls are more protected while they are in school.
‘Homes, which we thought are safe, have proved not to be safe as these cases have increased when the girls are at home.
‘Unfortunately, those responsible are those in authority whom we expect to give guidance and support’.
Also speaking, the Regional Coordinator of Child Rights Network of Southern Africa, Felistus Motimedi, noted, ‘To achieve Aspiration Seven of Agenda 2040 will require all hands on deck, state parties cannot do it by themselves.
‘We as civil society organisations need to work along them as well [as] working with girls and young women to ensure our girls are able to enjoy their childhood’.
Source: FAWE
Photo source: DFID
