Mezmur/18th birthday of the African Children’s Rights Charter 136 4.2 Child marriage Closely linked with the definition of a child is the issue of child marriage, a phenomenon that continues to pose a serious human rights challenge to the African continent. Article 1(3) of the African Children’s Rights Charter, captioned ‘[o]bligation of State Parties’, sets the initial tone with which State parties to the Charter should address harmful practices. It reads that ‘[a]ny custom, tradition, cultural or religious practice that is inconsistent with the rights, duties and obligations contained in the present Charter shall, to the extent of such inconsistency, be discouraged’. While the obligation to ‘discourage’ is indeed an obligation of a very limited scope, the specific provision on harmful practices in article 21 elevates the nature of obligations that State parties have under the Charter in relation to harmful practices. Article 21 of the Charter, entitled ‘[p]rotection against harmful social and cultural practices’, states in full: 1. State Parties to the present Charter shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate harmful social and cultural practices affecting the welfare, dignity, normal growth and development of the child and in particular: (a) those customs and practices prejudicial to the health or life of the child; and (b) those customs and practices discriminatory to the child on the grounds of sex or other status. 2. Child marriage and the betrothal of girls and boys shall be prohibited and effective action, including legislation, shall be taken to specify the minimum age of marriage to be 18 years and make registration of all marriages in an official registry compulsory. By virtue of articles 1(3) and 21, the drafters of the Charter have provided solid ground upon which efforts to address harmful practices, in particular child marriage, can and should be undertaken. In fact, the only place in the Charter where the words ‘effective action’ is used is in relation to the obligation to child marriages in article 21(2). The provision acknowledges that while legislation is an important element in prohibiting and preventing child marriages and betrothals, it is not an end in itself. This appears to be the main reason why article 21(2) reads by saying ‘including legislation’. There are three critical elements underscored by article 21(2). First, the efforts of State parties should not only be towards prohibiting child marriages, but also betrothals, also known as ‘promise marriages’. Moreover, these efforts should not only be about girls, which notably constitute most of the global child marriage population but should also be applicable to boys. It is also notable that the Charter avoids the two rather confusing notions, namely, ‘early marriage’ and ‘forced marriage’. As a result, the consent of a child for child marriage is not relevant and would still constitute a violation of article 21(2) is undertaken by a child, by definition a person below the age of 18, as provided for under article 2 of the Charter.