3.3 The age of sexual consent and marriage 86. For many years the legal framework governing the ages of marriage and sexual consent was out of alignment with the ACRWC and failed to protect young girls under the age of 18 years against early sexual engagement, sexual abuse and early marriages. Under the common law, customary law, and colonial child protection and criminal laws of Sierra Leone, the minimum age for sexual consent by girls was 13 years and there was no minimum age of consent for marriage. In terms of customary law, a girl became marriageable when she reached puberty. 87. A number of laws were enacted during the course of the last few years strengthening and aligning the protection of young girls with the provisions of the ACRWC. The Child Rights Act introduces a minimum age of marriage for all marriages, of whatever kind (including customary and religious marriages) of 18 years. The Registration of Customary Marriage and Divorce Act (2007) also amends customary law governing the age at which girls may be married to 18 years. However, unlike the absolute prohibition against any marriages below this age provided for in the Child Rights Act, the Registration of Customary Marriages Act provides that if a child below this age and his or her parents’ consent thereto, a marriage may be lawfully concluded. This proviso is however rendered null and void given that the Child Rights Act prohibition applies to all marriages of whatever kind. The GoSL is taking steps to amend the Registration of Customary Marriages Act appropriately. 88. The Sexual Offences Act also increases the age at which a girl may consent to sexual intercourse from 13 to 16 years. 89. Despite the clear legal protection provided the rate of early sexual debut, teenage pregnancies and marriage remains high in Sierra Leone some years after introduction of the minimum ages of marriage. In 2010 in Sierra Leone, 16 percent of women between the ages of 15 and 49 years are married before the age of 15 years and 50 percent are married before the age of 18 years. About one in four women between the ages of 15 and 19 years are married (23 percent) while one in three (34 percent) are in a polygamous marriage (Statistics Sierra Leone and UNICEF, 2011). 90. Of particular concern to the GoSL is the high and increasing early fertility rate among girl-children under the age of 18 years – a factor driven in part by the high rate of early marriages. In 2008 the fertility rate among girls aged 15-19 years was 146 per 1,000 live births and this increased to 155 per 1,000 in 2013 (Statistics Sierra Leone & MoHS, 2009) (Statistics Sierra Leone, 2014). In 2010, 32 percent of girls between the ages of 15 and 19 years had begun childbearing, 26 percent had given birth before the age of 19 years, and 7 percent had given birth before the age of 15 years. This is of particular concern given the close link between poor health and other development outcomes for both the young mother and her infant including the lack of educational opportunities to young women, risks to women’s health and fertility, and children being born into homes that are not ready for them. By way of illustration of the severity of the consequences for young mothers, it is estimated that 40 percent of maternal mortality deaths are associated with early pregnancy (Statistics Sierra Leone and UNICEF, 2011). 3. Definition and Age of the Child (Article 2)  31