The First Lady of Sierra Leone, Mrs Fatima Maada Bio has called for the immediate outlaw of early marriages girls on the African continent, insisting that child marriage is noting but an African method of legalizing rape of girls.
Bio who has pet projects, “Hands Off Our Girls” and “School Sanitary Pads”, said it was quite unfortunate that child marriages were allowed to fester on the continent.
She said: “Early marriage of girls is a means of legalizing way of raping girls. Because if you are to force a child into marriage at the age of 11 and 12 years, 13 and even up to 17 that is an abuse. And I believe it is an African method of legalizing raping of girls.”
She said this could not be allowed to continue and all should come together to put a stop to it by outlawing it.
Bio who said she had already started the move to end early marriages on the continent, noted that when she started her campaign she involved seven other First Ladies.
The First Lady said: “When I started the campaign, I started it with launching it with about seven other First Ladies, and they have all gone back and they have put their own projects because we cannot all call our projects: ‘Hands Off Our Girls”, they have given different names but we are all conveying the same message.”
She insisted that the First Ladies were on similar projects to end rape, to end early marriages and allow the girls to be in school.
She however said it was not in her place to force other African First Ladies to replicate her projects in their countries, but she however “see it as African problem, that must be dealt with.”
Bio said her projects and interventions had led to sentencing of many involved in rape cases in her home country and also emboldened rape women to come out to seek justice.
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