President Emmerson Mnangagwa has pledged to put in place sterner measures that include tracking mechanisms to curb sexual harassment and early child marriages against girls and women.
Mnangagwa, who was addressing a women’s gathering in Harare yesterday, which was organised by Professional Women, Women Executives and Business Women’s Forum (PROWEB), expressed government’s concern prevalence of abuse on women.
“My administration remains gravely concerned with the prevalence of gender based violence against women, girls sexual harassment, early child marriages and sexual abuse.
“Hence, sterner penalties to perpetrators of these heinous crimes. Going forward, there is need to develop registers and tracking mechanisms of child sexual abusers in line with global best practices,” said Mnangagwa.
He added that the matters are on his Legislation calendar and will be addressed when Child Justice and Marriage bill is reviewed.
“If you look at the calendar of legislation which I articulated during my State Of the Nation Address (SONA), these issues are there. The Child Justice and Marriages bill will be reviewed to provide greater protection for children and outlaw child marriages respectively,” he added.
Statistics show that approximately 500 000 teenagers fall pregnant every year, with 19 percent of the pregnancies in this group a result of child marriages.
