Child marriage banned in Sierra Leone

[Chickenuggetsticks]

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx02p44px1do

Just a bit of good news. It’s good legislation, people can be fined and imprisoned for even attending a wedding between a child and an adult. Hopefully it will be forcefully applied.

That's excellent news!

Nice to get some good news, I hope they implement the law in reality

The ministry of health estimates that a third of girls are married off before they turn 18, accounting for the country’s high number of maternal deaths - among the highest in the world.

That's appalling. I'm glad something is being done but clearly it's very 'popular' with the people making it happen, so I wonder what the backlash/consequences will be to such a law, which presumably wasn't welcomed by everyone?

Anything that moves the dial has my support! Change is hard but it can happen. The first lady and the president seem very committed. I truly hope they hold peoples feet to the fire on this. No child should suffer a marriage they can’t possibly consent to.

Great news! Hope they are able to enforce it properly, and this will discourage people from engaging in what is essentially the sexual abuse and slavery of young girls.

It wasn't mentioned in the article, but I'm assuming they also have outreach programmes in schools and communities to explain why this shouldn't be practiced - aside from the sexual abuse and consent, girls will have more complications and die earlier if forced to undergo pregnancy etc. Legislation + outreach programmes can help with longer-term, lasting change as it can affect the cultural mindset.