President Emmerson Mnangagwa used a statutory instrument last week to raise the age of consent to 18 in the southern African nation. Violators could spend 10 years in jail.
UNICEF’s Zimbabwe representative, Dr. Tajudeen Oyewale, welcomed the change.
"This legislation has come to complement the amendment to the Marriages Act that prohibits the marriage of anyone less than age of 18,” Oyewale said earlier this week.
“We as UNICEF see these two legislations as critical legal instruments that will come toward ensuring that our children, especially the adolescent girls, are safe and protected.”
Ekenia Chifamba, a director of the girls’ rights group Shamwari Yemwanasikana, said she hopes the change will deter pedophiles.
"We were disgruntled in instances where we would see perpetrators’ penalties that were not favorable — some of them being given community service — while the girl would have to deal with key issues that mattered, which included their health,” Chifamba said.
Some girls would obtain “backyard abortions,” she said, while others struggled with their mental health. Many girls who fell pregnant also dropped out of school.
A report published in June last year found that the adolescent pregnancy prevalence rate in Zimbabwe was 23.7%. The mean age of sex was 16 years with 31% reporting that their first sexual encounter was forced.
Over a third of girls experience sexual violence before the age of 18, according to UNICEF.
In a statement, UNICEF Zimbabwe said it hopes the new law "will contribute to a reduction of sexual abuse of children and adolescents, which continues to be a concern in Zimbabwe."
It also called on the government "to continue to invest in the prevention of sexual abuse of children and support to victims" while bolstering services to help victims.
Zimbabwe's Constitutional Court outlawed marriage before the age of 18 in 2016.
In 2022, the court ruled that the age of sexual consent should be raised from 16 to 18.
Some information in this report came from The Associated Press.
