The judiciary has called for a law that will criminalize child marriage by punishing parents who marry off their underaged girls.
While speaking at the national policy dialogue on harmful practices against children as part of cerebrations to mark the international day of African child, the high court judge Suzan Okalany said that right now child marriage and forced marriage are not directly criminalized
'' If a parent decides to give away her child even if she is under 18 years this is not criminal.Okalany said .
The call by the judiciary comes after the forum for African women educationalists released a report indicating that 2.8 percent of young girls who got married during Covid19 lockdown were encouraged or pressured by their parents or caregivers on the fact that their marriage would help the family receive money and other goods .
Justice okalany has also called the ministry of gender to work with the judiciary so that all judicial officers are trained to handle children's issues or cases.
She said the biggest challenge in regard to Justice for children is the rotating or redeploying of personnel who have been trained to handle children issues and the incoming staff don't prioritize the cases.
Okalany said the judiciary should be involved in the dialogue to convert more officers into child rights advocates right away from magistrates.
She has also called for deployment of more probation officers to implement the orders made by courts saying one probation officer per district is not enough.
The joining forces an alliance of the six largest child focused agencies child fund alliance,Plan international,save the children international,SOS children's villages,Terre des Hommes international and world vision now ask government to enforce child rights laws saying the cases of child marriage and teenage pregnancy are on the rise because the existing structure to implement the laws are weak.
The organizations have also committed to help in ensuring that schools are free from violence, abuse and exploitation.
