Starvation in Zimbabwe Revives Child Bride Practice, Child Prostitution on the Rise

The country of Zimbabwe has been in a 6-year long economic depression as a result of the Mugabe-led government abuses, the like not usually seen in a country not a war, the World Bank says. The inflation rates have surpassed 1,000% and what little food available within the country is either sold on the black market or strictly controlled by the government.

As a result of the Mugabe influence and also bad weather affecting crops many povery-stricken families in rural areas are returning to an old tribal custom not practiced since before colonialism, of the father selling his daughter (usually underage) to be married a wealthy man in exchange for food for the rest of his family.

In an article posted today in the Zimbabwe News, we learn:

With the economy seen worsening over Mugabe's controversial policies that started with the arbitrary seizure in 2000 of white-owned commercial farms, observers and social scientists say the old scourges - child labour, child prostitution and forced marriages - will rise. "We are seeing an increase in forced and illegal marriages of poor young girls to rich old men over the past few years. This is a centuries-old tradition, which we had long forgotten," a former University of Zimbabwe vice-chancellor and a leading social scientist, Gordon Chavhunduka, says. He adds: "Such traditions where poor families marry off their under-age daughters to rich old men were rife before colonialism hundreds of years back. They died after colonialism. But they have now been revived in the battle for survival."

The World Press reports that Save the Children in Zimbabwe have seen a rapid increase in the "sale" of girl-child brides and also in child prostitution as the famine worsens:

Save the Children conducted a brief survey in Binga, near Lake Kariba, to examine the effect of the food crisis on women's behavior. It found more young women are now engaged in prostitution, many taking food as payment. Women already engaged in sex work are more likely to have sex without a condom if the client pays a better price for "skin on skin" sex. As the crisis worsens, women's vulnerability increases, forcing them into sex work.

McIvor also said more girls were being forced into early marriages. The tradition of childhood marriages in the Zambezi Valley, where Save the Children has focused much of its work, saw girls as young as 14 getting married. Now, said McIvor, brides were getting even younger as their families looked to the bride price of cattle and goats for survival.