Early and forced marriages negate several international human rights agreements ratified by the government of Cameroon.

Statistics presented in Ngaoundere last Monday, July 11 on the occasion of celebrations marking the World Population day are quite disturbing. That 68 percent of the five million adolescences (teenagers ranging between 15 and 19 years) cannot read and write is a thing to worry about. Many find themselves in this situation because their parents preferred to give them out for marriage.

Studies indicate that an estimated 47 per cent of girls under 18 are married - usually against their will - because they are seen as an economic burden to their families.  These girls often remain in poverty because they leave school to marry and have no access to income-generating opportunities. They are more likely to be victims of domestic and sexual violence; highly vulnerable to sexually transmitted infections, including HIV; and face a high risk of complications, even death, during pregnancy and childbirth.

Much ink has flown and tongues wagged but the phenomenon continues. Tradition they say, is the root cause of this. But the general cry is that this ugly side of tradition be completely scraped away. Cameroon as a nation has ratified several international conventions on human rights. It would appear that national legislation slightly contradicts exigencies of international conventions.

While the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) ratified by Cameroon sets the minimum age of marriage at 18; back at home the legal age of marriage is 15 for girls with parental permission and 18 for boys. Civil society organisations have been on government’s throat accusing it of lack of political will to completely erase the practice.  This cry seems to have been finally heard and all eyes are directed towards the new Penal Code which is said to have tried to handle the problem.

In all, there seems to be a glimmer of hope especially in the three Northern Regions of the country.  In the Far North Region for instance, the Association for the Promotion of Girls' and Women's Rights (APAD) has been empowering survivors of early and forced marriages in the region and educating communities about the intrinsic human rights of girls, including the right to choose when and whom to marry.

one were to accept that early and forced marriages lead to abrupt end of education and a rupture of the personal development of the girl child, that they leave girls defenceless and anxious, and increase risk of insults, injuries, and rape, one would not hesitate to join the fight. This fight must take several forms including improving the legal framework, increasing girls’ access to education, including comprehensive sexuality education, implementing a national monitoring service of early and forced marriages, developing a platform for agencies and organizations fighting the practice, and running a national awareness campaign.