THE END OF CHILD MARRIAGES IN ZAMBIA? AN APPRAISAL OF THE MARRIAGE (AMENDMENT) ACT OF 2023 AND THE MATRIMONIAL CAUSES (AMENDMENT) ACT OF 2024

Abstract

This article appraises the Marriage (Amendment) Act, 2023 and the Matrimonial Causes (Amendment) Act, 2024 (the new laws), which introduced a uniform age of marriage of 18 years and nullified as void any purported marriage with a person below this age. The paper argues that together with the 2016 constitutional amendment and the Children’s Code Act 2022, the new laws represent a significant and commendable step towards ending child marriage in Zambia, but they are limited and their implementation potentially threatened by several challenges. These challenges range from a potential constitutionality challenge to ambiguities and gaps in the legal provisions, inadequate protection for certain categories of children, divergence between the new laws and people’s living customary law within the context of legal pluralism, and poverty and impunity which call for solutions beyond law. The paper also attempts to make recommendations to counter these challenges, in order to achieve comprehensive reform of the law toward eradicating the scourge of child marriage in the country.