The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP), has held a stakeholder consultative meeting to devise strategic measures to help end child marriages in the country. 

The meeting, held in Tamale, was to seek participants’ inputs on issues of forced and early child marriages and how it could be reduced in the Northern region.   

It was organised by the Domestic Violence Secretariat of the Ministry in collaboration with the United Nations International Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF) to sensitise stakeholders on the causes, effects, and ending child marriage in the region.

Head of the Domestic Violence Secretariat of the MoGCSP, Mrs. Malonin Asibi, who addressed participants, said there was a need for collective efforts of government, institutions, and individuals to end child marriages in the country. 

"We have a duty to perform as stakeholders because the strategic framework in ending child marriage requires that everybody comes on board to achieve our goal," she said.

She called on law enforcement agencies and other relevant stakeholders to strictly enforce laws that protect children from early child marriages. 

“Our security and law enforcement agencies must strictly put in force the laws that protect children from falling victims of this canker so that they can achieve their life ambitions,” Mrs. Asibi added. 

Child Protection Officer at UNICEF, Mrs. Joyce Odame, said though the Northern region had made some improvement in ending child marriage, there was still more room for improvement. 

She, therefore, appealed to traditional and religious leaders in the region to join forces to completely curb child marriages in their communities.