Our Stakeholder report to Zambia鈥檚 Universal Periodic Review, led by Dr. Amna Nazir, makes specific recommendations to the government regarding child, early and forced marriage.
Researchers
Consultancy background
This Stakeholder Report focuses upon child, early and forced marriage and makes recommendations to the Government of Zambia on this key issue, implementation of which would see Benin move towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals 4 and 5 which aim for 鈥済ender equality and empowering all women and girls鈥� and 鈥渋nclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.鈥�
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On 21 November 2022, the UN鈥檚 Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights published its Stakeholder Summary Report for Zambia, which cited the UPR Project at BCU:
鈥淯PR-BCU called upon Zambia to adopt the 鈥楽outhern African Development Community (SADC) Model Law to End Child Marriage鈥�, amend the Marriage Act, and adopt a policy that clearly defines marriage and prohibits child marriage.鈥� (para 82)
鈥淯PR-BCU stated that the COVID-19 pandemic had exacerbated the risk of child, early and forced marriage due to the interruption in education, economic and food insecurity, disruptions to programmes and services, adolescent pregnancy, and death of a parent or primary caretaker.鈥� (para 84)
Following the pre-sessions in Geneva, the European Union Delegation to the United Nations invited Dr Nazir to present at the Informal Exchange of Views with the EU Member States which took place on 6th December 2022. Dr Nazir raised concerns over the issue of child, early and forced marriage in Zambia and urged Member States to issue recommendations in this regard.
EU Submission presentation sheet
The review's outcome was published on 11 April 2023 in the Working Group Report.聽The following relevant recommendations were made to Zambia:
Continue efforts to address the problem of discrimination based on gender and violence against women and girls, including child marriage. Recommending State: Viet Nam (127.58); Bahamas (127.170); India (127.158)
Assess the impact of the national strategy on ending child marriage in Zambia and undertake follow-up measures and increase its efforts to address the root causes of early marriage and to maintain girls in the education system. Recommending State: South Africa (127.173); Angola (127.145); Burkina Faso (127.174)
These Member State recommendations are consistent with the categories of recommendations identified in the UPR Project at BCU鈥檚 Stakeholder Report for Zambia鈥檚 UPR.
About the UPR Project at BCU
The Centre for Human Rights (CHR) has been engaging with the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) since 2016. Under the auspice of the Human Rights Council, the UPR is an intergovernmental process providing a review of the human rights record of all Member States.
Through the UPR Project at BCU, the CHR we engage with the UPR through鈥痶aking part in the鈥疷PR Pre-sessions, providing capacity building for UPR stakeholders and National Human Rights Institutions, and the filing of鈥痵takeholder reports in selected sessions. The UPR Project鈥痠s designed to help meet the challenges facing the safeguarding of human rights around the world, and to help鈥痚nsure that UPR recommendations are translated into domestic legal change in member state parliaments.
We fully support the UPR ethos of encouraging the sharing of best practice globally to protect everyone's human rights. The UPR Project at BCU engages鈥痺ith the UPR鈥痳egularly as a stakeholder,鈥痟aving submitted numerous reports and been鈥痗ited by the OHCHR.