Zimbabwe: Age of Consent to Go Up to 18 – Mnangagwa

Africa/Zimbabwe/AllinAfrica

Resumen: El VICEPRESIDENTE Emmerson Mnangagwa informó que el gobierno estaba en el proceso de introducir una ley para precisar la edad legal para el consentimiento sexual de las niñas  de 16 a 18 años.

VICE PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa says government was in the process of introducing a law that would see the statutory age of consent to sex by girls raised from 16 to 18 years.

He was responding to calls by Senators on Tuesday that the minimum age one could be allowed to consent to sex should be aligned to a 2016 Constitutional Court ruling which outlawed the marriage of or among minors below 18.

While the ruling was followed with euphoric victory among child and women’s rights activists, some felt it remained hollow as girls as young as 16 could still indulge in sex and even conceive children for as long as they did not proceed to get married before 18.

«We have a landmark ruling in this country which states that nobody should be married or be married off when they are below the age of 18,» Senator representing people with disabilities, Anna Shiri, had said earlier.

She was contributing to a motion which called on the government to ratify and incorporate into its gender laws, the SADC Model Law on Eradicating Child Marriage.

Zimbabwe, currently, is in the process of enacting a law which seeks to operationalise the outlawing of child marriages.

«At the same time we have this Bill,» Shiri said, «while we have part of the Act which says there is an age of consent to sex which is 16 years of age.

«As a result, there is some contradiction where early marriage is 18 years yet the consent to sexual activity is 16 years. We need to align these laws.»

Mnangagwa, who was speaking as the country’s justice minister, said government was considering raising the age of consent to 18.

«I may also say that the other two points you have raised relating to the issue of consent between juveniles or children, anybody who is below 18 is regarded as a child,» Mnangagwa said.

«We had a Committee to deal with that and we have arrived at a possible solution which will come to Parliament on the issue of consent between an adult and juvenile or between a juvenile and a juvenile.

«Those issues we have debated and we believe that we should bring up also the age of consent to the age of 18. Of course, this is subject to debate when it comes to Parliament.»

Mnangagwa said his ministry was in the process of aligning all the marriage laws and the progressive provisions of the SADC Model law he said will be incorporated in the comprehensive proposed Marriages Bill.

The proposed Bill will be able to amend the Marriages Act and the Customary Marriages Act and all other laws that are outdated in relation to marriages.

Fuente: http://allafrica.com/stories/201703090344.html

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