US embassy cable - 05LILONGWE232

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CHILD MARRIAGE IN MALAWI

Identifier: 05LILONGWE232
Wikileaks: View 05LILONGWE232 at Wikileaks.org
Origin: Embassy Lilongwe
Created: 2005-03-14 11:59:00
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Tags: ECON ELAB PHUM PGOV SCUL SOCI KWMN
Redacted: This cable was not redacted by Wikileaks.
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

141159Z Mar 05

 
UNCLAS LILONGWE 000232 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON, ELAB, PHUM, PGOV, SCUL, SOCI, KWMN 
SUBJECT: CHILD MARRIAGE IN MALAWI 
 
REF: STATE 036341 
 
1.  Post provides the following information regarding 
child marriage in Malawi.  Responses below are keyed to 
reftel paragraph 6. 
 
A. Section 22 Subsection 6 of the Constitution of Malawi 
states that the legal age for marriage in Malawi is 18. 
This law applies to both girls and boys. The constitution 
also states "for persons between the ages 15 and 18 years 
a marriage shall only be entered into with the consent of 
their parents or guardians." 
 
B. Underage marriage is not a significant problem, either 
among the population at large or within one or more 
minority groups in Malawi. Statistics are not available. 
The Ministry of Gender, Child Welfare and Community 
Services indicated the GOM is not currently focused on 
the issue of child marriage. 
 
C. In Malawi there are no U.S. funded initiatives that 
specifically aim to reduce the incidence or address the 
negative affects of child marriage.  However, other 
development initiatives focused on education, health, and 
economic security may indirectly address the issue. 
GILMOUR 

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