Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on African leaders attending the Third African Girls’ Summit to prioritise education for pregnant girls and married adolescents in Africa.
HRW urged African Union (AU), United Nations (UN), national governments and political leaders attending the summit to commit to stronger human rights protection for girls’ education.
The Third African Girls’ Summit brings together stakeholders from across the region and beyond to galvanise support to end harmful practices against girls in Africa.
HRW noted that even though many governments in Africa have protective laws and policies, hundreds of thousands of girls and young women are denied an education because they are pregnant, married, or mothers.
A report by the World Bank shows that in West and Central Africa, once a girl marries or becomes pregnant, it is often extremely difficult for her to return to school even if this is in principle allowed by schools.
‘While there is legal and policy recognition of all girls’ and women’s right to education in many African countries, there remains a large gap in enabling them to get to school and to stay until graduation’, HRW’s Senior Researcher, Agnes Odhiambo, said in a statement.
‘Many girls, for instance, lack financial and psychosocial, or mental health, support to continue with education during pregnancy or after they have given birth.
‘The African Union Commission (AUC) should also consider developing and popularising a model regional policy for ensuring continuing education of pregnant girls and adolescent mothers and “re-entry” for those who leave school’.
Data from the United Nations Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF) also shows that in western, central, eastern and southern Africa, over 25 percent of young women, amounting to an estimated 13 million young women, between 2015 and 2020, gave birth before age 18.
The Covid-19-induced school closures also exacerbated incidents of adolescent pregnancies, child and forced marriages in Africa.
In 2020, the UN reported that countries such as Kenya, Malawi and Ethiopia were reporting spikes in teen pregnancies and early marriages, raising fears many girls may not ever return to school.
Government actions against this issue have also been reported.
Zimbabwe, in 2020, made the expulsion of schoolgirls who get pregnant illegal, less than one year after a Nigerian state, Ekiti, banned the practice.
The authorities in Zimbabwe took that action after it was noticed that many Zimbabwean girls were dropping out of school due to pregnancy or marriage reasons.
In Nigeria, although the country’s Child Rights Act protects the rights of girls to education during and after pregnancy, many girls, it has been observed, continue to face expulsion.
In late 2019, the government of Ekiti State, southwest Nigeria, laid down the marker in the country by coming up with a policy banning the practice of expelling students who got impregnated while in school.
Similarly, the government of Sierra Leone was in December 2019 ordered by the ECOWAS court to lift a policy banning pregnant students from attending schools.
It was learnt that the policy, supported by patriarchal beliefs that disapprove of women attending school once pregnant or after they have given birth, was first adopted in 2015.
But in the ruling, the court found the policy to be unlawful and in breach of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ rights and international law.
‘African governments should be fulfilling the right to education for pregnant girls and adolescent mothers not only by opening school doors, but also by putting in place comprehensive measures to address their challenges and needs so that they remain in school’, Odhiambo added.
‘The Third African Girls’ Summit points to the growing commitment by African leaders to end discrimination against girls, but governments need to take further actions to ensure that all girls can enjoy their childhood and contribute to their society’s development.
‘The African Union as a whole should show greater leadership and consistently promote the education of pregnant girls and adolescent mothers’.
HRW called on the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) and the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC) to provide detailed guidance to countries about their legal obligations to provide equal education to girls and women without discrimination, and ensure effective monitoring of compliance.
Photo source: DFID
