By Marko Phiri BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Thobekile Mpofu was 15 when she got pregnant to a 41-year-old man who quickly accepted responsibility and married her, avoiding possible legal action for having sex with an underage girl. Child rights activists on Thursday launched a campaign to call on the authorities to crack down on men using marriage to avoid criminal charges for having sex with a minor, one of the factors fuelling the number of child marriages in Zimbabwe. Figures from the United Nation’s child agency, UNICEF, show that one in nine girls aged under 15 in Zimbabwe are married, with child marriage often ending a girl’s education and exposing her to health risks from early childbearing and HIV.
Here is the original post:
Zimbabwe activists call for tougher action against child marriages
