Peer-reviewed article
Girl-Child Marriages as Opposed to the Principle of Non-Discrimination to Children in Mainland Tanzania: A Legal Analysis
Elizabeth Lukelelwa Simon ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This legal analysis examines how Tanzania's marriage laws permitting girl-child marriages violate the principle of non-discrimination against children protected under international, regional, and domestic law. The paper documents that early marriage threatens girls' health, lives, and rights. It compares Tanzania's laws unfavourably with those of Kenya and Uganda, which both set 18 years as the minimum marriage age for all children regardless of gender, and argues Tanzania has no valid reason to fail to adopt similar protections.
Key points
- Tanzania's Laws of Marriage still allow girls to marry before reaching the age of majority, contrary to non-discrimination principles
- Child marriage threatens girls' lives, health, and limits their prospects
- Kenya and Uganda, despite similar socio-economic and cultural backgrounds to Tanzania, have set 18 years as the minimum marriage age for both men and women
- The principle of non-discrimination requires equal treatment of all children regardless of gender, sex, or other status
- Neighbouring countries have successfully complied with non-discrimination principles in marriage law, showing Tanzania's failure is not inevitable
Limitations
This is a doctrinal legal analysis that reviews existing laws and does not present empirical data on the prevalence or consequences of child marriage in Tanzania. It does not evaluate any intervention or programme designed to prevent child marriage.
Abstract
This Article analyses how legalising girl-child marriages in Mainland Tanzania is contrary to the core principle of non-discrimination against children enshrined in the international, regional, and domestic laws. The purpose of writing this paper is to find out how severe the problem of girl-child marriage is and how it can legally be solved in Mainland Tanzania. The methodology that was adopted is qualitative research. This research is specifically premised on doctrinal legal research whereby various legal and non-legal materials relevant to the study have been reviewed, analysed, and come up with a logical conclusion. Despite the global war against child marriage, the Laws of Marriage in Mainland Tanzania still allow a girl-child to marry before attaining the age of majority. Child marriage threatens girls’ lives and health, and it limits their prospects. Girls who enter into marriage at an early age are at greater risk of not enjoying their rights fully, like other children. Though some East African countries like Kenya and Uganda have the same socio-economic and cultural background as Tanzania, their marriage laws still comply with the principle of non-discrimination to children in the aspect of the minimum age of marriage. For example, Art. 31 (1) of the Constitution of Uganda explicitly provides that the minimum age of marriage for both men and women is eighteen (18) years old. Additionally, according to section 4 of the Marriage Act of Kenya, the legal age of marriage is eighteen (18) years old for both men and women. It is clearly provided that: “A person shall not marry unless that person has attained the age of eighteen years.” Since neighbouring countries like Uganda and Kenya have been able to comply with the principle of non-discrimination to children in the aspect of minimum age of marriage, there is no excuse for the failure of Tanzania to adhere to the core principle of non-discrimination to children, which emphasises the equal treatment of all children regardless of their status. All children, regardless of their gender, sex, or any other status, should be treated equally and without any form of discrimination.