Angola and Zambia partner in tackling child marriages

The Angolan Vice President, Esperansa Da Costa and Zambian Vice President, Mutale Nalumango had bilateral talks on whilst they both attended the Dushanbe Water Conference in Tajikistan.

They discussed the paramount importance of addressing child marriages, early pregnancies, and violence against women and children in the two countries. Ms Da Costa highlighted that the countries share in these problems and must collaborate in order to effectively tackle it. 

Ms Nalumango reinforced the fact that young girls are a cornerstone of society and every effort should be put into encouraging them to remain in school, in order to reduce early pregnancies and child marriages. 

During the conference, Ms de Costa said, “many times, [young girls] drop out of school because of cultural reasons, they drop out of school because they don’t have sexual education in school and they pregnant very early.”

In response, Ms Nalumango addressed the members saying, “the woman, it’s important for us, I think the Vice-President has seen the importance of the issues to do with young girls and women. Because whether we like it or not, the woman brings life, the woman also brings stability, the woman is strong.”