Child brides, HIV and cultural rights

In South Africa, the tradition of ukuthwala allows parents to arrange marriages for their children. This tradition originated out of parents’ interest in securing a good home for their children, but has unfortunately evolved into something more similar to child trafficking. It is a dangerous form of GBV that pays little attention to the rights of the child, specifically girl children.

These girl children are introduced into marriages young, often without knowing who they will be married to. In arranged marriages like these, the male partner is often much older, often of similar age to the child’s parents. In terms of our legislation, Children aged 15 and under have to get permission from the minister of home affairs to marry, and this practice ignores those regulations.

Within these marriages, young girls are often encouraged to enter into sexual relations very young, and there is a great deal of pressure on them to bear children. The pressure to bear children has its own risks for a young girl and the younger she is the more dangerous child birth can be.

In these marriages the risk of HIV infection is quite high. There is normally a large age gap between bride and groom, and the older the man is the more likely he has had multiple sexual partners and has been exposed to HIV. In addition, young women do not have fully developed vaginas which make them more likely to tear when penetrated increasing the contact between blood and semen.

This practice thus legitimises child rape on the basis of cultural practice, for the financial gain of a male parent. A Medical Research Council of SA study suggests that 30% of young women in South Africa said that their first sexual experience was under force or the threat of force. This practice legitimises that force at the expense of the rights of girl-children. The South African Constitution protects cultural rights, but numerous test cases show that the right to gender equality supersedes cultural law.

There can be no justification for child rape as a cultural practice. Culture evolved to distort this practice. Culture can evolve to support women.