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Hajia Safia Tamimu, Head of the Child Marriage Unit at the Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Protection, has called on the media to prioritize reporting on child marriage.
She emphasized the urgency of intensifying efforts to end the practice, as the deadline set by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to eliminate child marriage by 2030 was approaching.
Hajia Tamimu made the call during a media engagement on the Child Marriage Information Portal in Accra. The portal, www.cm.mogcsp.gov.gh, launched on September 29, 2021, serves as a comprehensive database on child marriage in Ghana. Developed by the Domestic Violence Secretariat in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the portal provides easy access to information on child marriage, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV), and related issues through an open-source system.
The Child Marriage Information Portal easily shares information on child marriage, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV), and related issues in an open-source format, accessible with a simple click. Hajia Tamimu noted that despite the existence of legal and policy frameworks aimed at reducing child marriage, the practice remained widespread. She also noted that the current prevalence of child marriage in Ghana stands at 19 percent. According to the 2021 Population and Housing Census Thematic Brief on Childhood Vulnerabilities in Ghana, over 120,000 children between the ages of 12 and 17 were either married or living with a partner.
Hajia Tamimu shared that in 2024, the Child Marriage Unit rescued about 13 girls, six of whom are back in school, while the others are participating in economic empowerment programmes. She stressed the importance of engaging the media to spread awareness about child marriage in Ghana, encouraging stakeholders to contribute content to the Child Marriage Information Portal. While acknowledging progress, Hajia Tamimu called for intensified efforts from stakeholders to ramp up awareness campaigns.
She also mentioned that the Ministry, among other initiatives, had engaged traditional and religious leaders, with some pledging their commitment to help combat child marriage. Mr. Senanu Agbozo, Consultant for the Child Marriage Information Portal at UNFPA, highlighted the economic benefits of ending child marriage, including increased productivity and the economic empowerment of women, which could help eliminate poverty.
He said that the portal served as a tool to track progress and enhance efforts to end child marriage by 2030. The portal also provides a resource for media and other stakeholders to access and share information on child marriage. Mr. Agbozo added that users could report child marriage cases through the portal, which is linked to the Orange Support Center for immediate action.
Mr. Samson Obed Appiah, Chairman of the Editorial Committee for the portal, explained that contributions should be relevant, concise, factual, and verifiable. He stressed the importance of ensuring that the stories respect ethnicity, gender, locality, religion, and race to avoid stereotypes. Mr. Appiah underscored the need to protect the privacy and anonymity of victims.
Source: GNA
