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When rape is turned into marriage
*Spiwe Chikosi
November 16, 2004

How on earth can a 10-year-old child consent to sex? There again is the story of a Bocha girl who was sexually abused and forced to marry by the church elders. In recent months, we heard stories of a Chiredzi girl who went missing and was later found murdered. In another gruesome story, we heard of a Norton girl who went missing and was later found murdered and sexually abused. As if that was not enough, a notorious businessperson kidnapped and continuously molested and raped a school going minor. These are examples to refresh our memories of what our children are going through every day. Now on the 2nd November 2004 a 10 year old was forced to marry her perpetrator.

The most disturbing issue before we talk about the evil act of raping a minor is the virginity test. The UN Convention on The Rights of the Child (CRC) and the African Charter on the Rights And Welfare (ACRW) of the child clearly state that children have the right to protection from interference with privacy. In addition, the child has the right to be protected by law from such interferences. These instruments were put in place to protect children from such evil acts. Testing a child for virginity does not only bring psychological trauma during the process but also after the result when the child realizes that she might be an outcast. Anyway, the unasked question by many people and maybe unanswered as well would be: a virginity test for whose benefit. How does the child benefit from the stressful test that violates her right to privacy?

A sane adult with children's rights in mind following the story would think that after the tough time of virginity test, some counselling of some sort would assist the child. Instead, the worst happens to the child in this case after testing negative. The case is not reported to the police as a criminal case rather the church police decide to take the law in their hands and force the child to marry at such a tender age. Several crimes under the guise of religion have been committed and swept under the carpet by the church leaders. In such cases, parents belonging to the same sect, failed to report to the police for fear of being excommunicated. At the end of the day, the child is forced to marry without considering her age and rights.

Furthermore, in this 21st century, it is startling to hear that there are some people who criminalize their children because they are not virgins. This is surprising because there has been enough information on how virginity can be lost. Primary level education is enough to teach even a dull person that virginity can be broken by other means besides sexual intercourse. Even if the child was not a virgin due to sexual intercourse, why not consider the encounter as rape. The girl in question went through a painful period from being raped by an adult, forced to be tested for virginity, coerced to reveal her perpetrator, regarded as an outcast, and finally forced to marry her perpetrator. A chain of rights in this regard were violated. The right to protection form sexual abuse, right to privacy, right to freedom of expression and above all the best interest of the child were not taken into account.

Church leaders are society leaders who are expected to give guidance to the church followers and sometimes officiate marriages but not marriages involving minors such as 10 year olds. This is a case of church leaders conniving to turn rape into a marriage. This is criminal case, which should be handled by the courts of law and the ZRP not church 'police". When abuses are committed every day, it is disappointing to hear that the people or institutions, which are supposed to protect children, are on the forefront of mercilessly harassing and abusing children with virginity test and rape. Parents are raping their own children, extended family members are raping theirs nieces and cousins and church elders are raping or facilitating rape of minors. What kind of a world are we creating for our children? Does anybody out there in the Marange Apostolic Church know about children's rights? Mr. Tsvakai of the Union for the Development Apostolic Church in Zimbabwe (UDACZ) said that, "this is a common practice in the Marange Apostolic Church. This is one of the hundreds cases (munongoita zvekunzwa imi). I say this but not that I condone such practice. Actually we a have a lot of work to do to sensitise people about such bad practices." He pointed out that the Marange Apostolic Church believers are a difficult lot to deal with when it comes to children's rights and there is a lot of work to be done in that area.

When a minor is forced to marry her abuser, there is urgent need for the government and other stakeholders to take urgent action to enforce deterrent measures to prevent potential abusers form committing such heinous acts.

*Spiwe Chikosi is an Advocacy Officer with Child Protection Society.

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