Zimbabwean police are investigating the reported case of a 14-year-old girl who died during childbirth as the United Nations is calling out to the country's officials to criminalize child marriage in the region.
Many citizens and rights activists have decried the inhumane practice after officials reported Memory Machaya died last month after giving birth to her child. The victim was at a church shrine in the eastern region of Marange during the incident.
14-Year-Old Dies During Childbirth
The death of the young girl has brought the exploitation of minors in the country into the spotlight after it was reported that the victim was forced to get married and abandon her education. In a statement, the UN urged the country's officials to recognize child marriage as a crime and end the practice.
The international organization said it was deeply concerned about the situation in Zimbabwe and strongly condemned the circumstances surrounding the death of the 14-year-old girl. The agency's statement on Saturday also noted that the current trend of unresolved cases of violence against women and girls in Zimbabwe, including marriages, should not go unpunished, BBC reported.
The incident has brought to the surface the circumstances of child marriage in the country's Apostolic Church, which more often denies medicine and hospital treatment. The young girl's family said that her child survived the childbirth and is in good health.
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Based on statistics, one in three girls in Zimbabwe is likely to get married before turning 18 years of age, the UN said. The agency's offices in the country have 25 branches across the nation.
Police and the country's state gender commission reported that investigations into the death of the 14-year-old girl. Local media reported the death of the victim to have occurred last July 15, but the case was only brought into the spotlight last week after the victim's furious relatives, whom the church's security barred from attending her burial, revealed their story to the state-owned press, Reuters reported.
Outrage for Child Marriage
Millions of followers are attracted to apostolic churches by their promises of healing illnesses and delivering people from poverty across the nation. Many residents have taken to online social media platforms to express their discontent with the situation.
Traditionally, the Zimbabwe government ignored the issue of child marriage in the region. There are two sets of marriage laws: the Marriage Act and Customary Marriages Act. Neither of the two legislations has a minimum age for marriage consent while the customary law allows polygamy.
Parliament is set to debate a new marriage bill that would synchronize the laws, ban marriage for anyone under 18 years of age, and prosecute anyone involved in the marriage of a minor. Many residents have also started an online petition calling for "justice for Memory Machaya" that has since garnered more than 50,000 signatures.
One user wrote that what the world saw in Zimbabwe with the 14-year-old girl's case, was a continuous series of crimes that did not see women as their own persons, ABC reported.
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