Sierra Leone outlaws child marriage in new legislation
This week, we start in Congo, where the justice minister is calling for the arrest of LGBT allies. Next, we travel to Northern Nigeria, where a crossdresser and queer man is preparing to marry a woman to conform to traditional norms. And finally, we head to Germany, where a 12-year-old girl is taking a stand against period poverty.
But first, in Sierra Leone, the parliament has approved The Prohibition of Child Marriage Bill 2024, which criminalises child marriage. The new bill makes it illegal to marry girls under 18, with violators facing up to 15 years in prison. This landmark legislation not only protects the rights of young girls but also ensures access to education and supports victims.
Child marriage has always been a pressing issue in Sierra Leone, which is home to about 800,000 child brides. Currently, 30% of girls in the country are married before 18, with 9% of girls married before 15. One primary reason behind these alarming numbers is poverty, as many families marry off their children to settle debts or improve their financial situation.
The new bill criminalises all forms of child marriage and cohabitation with minors and harmonises the Child Rights Act of 2007 and the Customary Marriage and Divorce Act of 2009. It also establishes 18 as the minimum legal age for marriage.
With this new legislation, Sierra Leone’s parliament has taken a crucial step towards achieving gender equality and protecting children. It is also expected to help break the cycle of teenage pregnancy and reduce deaths among girls aged 15-19 due to pregnancy-related complications.
Hopefully, this will serve as a model for other African countries, helping to protect young girls’ childhoods and ensure they have access to primary and secondary education.
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The ‘Yan Daudu’ dilemma: Navigating a pre-Islamic queer identity in the modern world
Editor’s note: This story was published in collaboration with FairPlanet as part of the Dual Life Project, which showcases how LGBTQIA persons in Africa are often compelled by society to lead dual lives.
Image description: A crossdresser in a village in Northern Nigeria
After years of openly presenting as a woman, 32-year-old Adamu finds himself at a pivotal moment as he prepares to marry a woman.
“I believe it is the right thing to do as a man,” he says about his forthcoming wedding.
Adamu first started presenting as a woman during his teenage years. His early life as a crossdresser unfolded against the backdrop of Ture, his grandmother’s village in Kano State, where his family relocated to after his father’s death.
Like many communal households, Adamu’s grandmother’s home was crowded with relatives, most of whom were women with children who lacked support from their husbands and fathers. An influence Adamu believes played a huge role in defining his identity.
Initially, Adamu’s interaction with femininity was by quietly watching as the women in his family engaged in traditional feminine activities. But as he matured, his fascination deepened and started to shift from mere observation to finding genuine enjoyment in pursuits like making hair and cooking, frequently spending time with his aunts as they partook in them.
Over time, he learned these skills and began to adopt his aunts’ mannerisms, he says. Even in social circles, Adamu naturally gravitated towards women. Most of his friends were female, and through their companionship and support, Adamu felt comfortable enough to express himself openly for the first time.
How football games between persons with albinism and vitiligo are helping fight stigma in Kenya
While pursuing his bachelor’s degree at Moi University in Kenya in 2008, Tom Radido noticed patches on his body.
His family came up with a theory: they concluded he had stepped on ash burned during a traditional rite following the death of twins. To reverse the condition, Radido was given ash to lick, with some smeared on his face. Nothing changed.
It was instead the onset of vitiligo, a skin condition affecting about 0.5 to 2% of the world’s population. It also marked the beginning of a series of discrimination against Radido.
“You go for interviews and from the receptionist, no one wants to look at you twice,” he tells Minority Africa. “There is this interview that I was invited to attend, and I had not stated in my resume that I was disabled. During the interview no one dared to look me in the face, even the CEO, they asked me questions while looking down.”
30-year-old Radido is now one of nearly sixty persons who are part of Royal Patches, a group using soccer to foster the inclusion of persons living with vitiligo in Kenya.
“I feel more confident, and relaxed when I am around [other persons living with vitiligo],” he says. “I am able to express myself freely, I don’t get worried that people are staring at me due to my skin patches.”
Around the world
BBC
The Nigerian queer parties that offer liberation
The location of the celebratory ball had to be kept a secret.
This was a queer event and in Nigeria, where same-sex relationships or public displays of affection are illegal, anything that is dedicated to embracing this culture is in danger.
Marking Pride month in any way here is an act of defiance.
The organisers of the Fola Francis Ball – named in honour of a transgender woman who died last year – only released the venue details with just hours to go before it opened. But this did not deter the more than 500 people who turned up in a district close to the thriving waterfront area of Nigeria’s commercial heartland, Lagos.
Around the gated venue were abandoned car parts and warehouses known for rave parties. A thumping bass line could be heard through the door and crossing the threshold felt like stepping into an alternative reality.
Inside was Lagos’s queer community, the venue, a cloak shielding them from the world outside.
For safety reasons, many LGBTQ+ Nigerians use the word “queer” as a broad term to encompass their identities.
Excited chatter and laughter coursed through the air. This was the joy of shedding fear.
The New Humanitarian
Sudanese refugees trapped in Ethiopian forest call for ‘immediate evacuation’
A large group of Sudanese refugees who have been stranded in a forest in a conflict-affected region of neighbouring Ethiopia for the past two months are facing “catastrophic” living conditions and continued attacks by local militiamen and bandits.
After escaping the war in Sudan, several thousand refugees had been living in camps allocated to them in the Amhara region by Ethiopian authorities. But the refugees escaped to a forest in May after attacks, abductions, and rapes in the camps.
Mohamed Hamid, a refugee who is stuck in the forest, said the group has been contending with hyenas and other dangerous wildlife over the past few weeks, and is experiencing humanitarian conditions that “no human being would accept”.
Hamid, who worked for the UN in Sudan, said the refugees are demanding to be relocated to another country, or to be given support to return to Sudan, even as the conflict there has displaced some 10 million people and led to famine conditions.
Lucrezia Vittori, associate communications officer in Ethiopia for the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR) said her organisation is urging refugees to return to the camps so they can access food and water aid while a long-term solution is figured out.
BBC
Millions of children going hungry in Sudan – Unicef
The head of the United Nations children’s agency, Unicef, says Sudan is one of the worst places in the world for children.
Catherine Russell says it now has the largest displacement of children anywhere, with millions facing malnutrition and most not in school
She is travelling to the country torn apart by more than a year of brutal civil war as warnings of famine grow louder.
The pillars of Sudan’s food economy have collapsed, and both warring parties – the Sudanese army and a paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) – are restricting the delivery of desperately needed aid.
Children were at the sharp end of this hunger crisis, Ms Russell told the BBC while en route in Nairobi: nine million don’t get enough to eat regularly, and nearly four million face acute malnutrition.
“We’re long past time where we need to act, we need to act now or it’s just going to get worse,” she said.
“You can always eventually make progress on something, so nothing is completely impossible. But for individual babies, for children, who are starving now, who are hungry, who are now severely malnourished, it will be too late for them.”
Stories we’ve enjoyed reading
BBC
Why a 12-year-old took action against period poverty
A 12-year-old girl in Germany was so touched by the inspirational work of South African period poverty campaigner Tamara Magwashu that she managed to organise a large charitable donation.
Caity Cutter was moved to do something after being shocked to learn from a BBC article about Ms Magwashu that 30% of girls in South Africa did not attend school during their period.
Ms Magwashu has called Caity’s efforts life-changing.
The story, published a year ago, was about how the now 28-year-old from South Africa’s Eastern Cape province was helping girls unable to afford sanitary pads by distributing free ones to schools based in rural, impoverished areas.
Having grown up in a shanty town using rags as sanitary pads – and being bullied for doing so – Ms Magwashu was determined to stop other girls in her community from suffering the same fate.
She created her own business to help girls in the country and beyond.
“I made a choice deep within me that I didn’t want anyone to go through what I did,” Ms Magwashu told the BBC.
“My purpose is to reach every girl who is in need, so they have their dignity. If you deprive a woman of sanitary products it’s a violation of their human rights.”