29/10/2022
World Vision, a Christian relief, development and advocacy organisation dedicated to working with children, families and communities to overcome poverty and injustice, welcomes the Constitutional Court Ruling on Raising the Age of Consent to S*x from 16 years to 18 years and enacting of the Marriage Act in Zimbabwe. This shows great efforts by the Government of Zimbabwe towards the protection of children against s*xual violence and aligning the country’s laws to the progressive 2013 Constitution of Zimbabwe.
On 24 May, 2022, Zimbabwe’s Constitutional Court (Concourt) ruled that the legal age of s*xual consent be increased from 16 to 18 years old. The (Concourt) judgement struck down the Criminal Law that set the age of consent to s*x at 16 as unconstitutional. In 2016, the same Concourt declared that Section 78 (1) of the Constitution sets 18 years as the minimum age of marriage and that any law to the contrary was unconstitutional. Previously, the legal age of consent was set at 16 which meant taking legal action against perpetrators marrying children below the age of 18 or those s*xually abusing children was difficult.
This will protect millions of children, especially girls, who bear the brunt of child marriage as a result of various religious, social and cultural harmful practices.
As we applaud these and other policy achievements by the Government of Zimbabwe, World Vision and other like-minded organisations calls upon the Legislature, Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs including relevant stakeholders to expedite the alignment process of the Criminal Law.
