Challenges of Enforcing Child Marriage Laws in Sierra Leone and Africa

“The practice of female genital mutilation is so interwoven with the practice of child marriage. It’s like the marketplace, the institution through which children are prepared for marriage” – Josephine Kamara, advocacy director of Purposeful.

Today, Alan Kasujja hears the moving story of Khadijatu Barrie, a 26-year-old student at the University of Sierra Leone. She recently went public and explained how she refused to be forced into marriage when she was still a little girl.

This comes a month after Sierra Leone’s president Julius Maada Bio signed into law the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act of 2024. It means, anyone marrying a girl under the age of 18 will be jailed for at least 15 years or fined around $4,000 US, or both.

Alan sits down with Patrick Analo from Save the Children as well as Josephine Kamara from Purposeful. He attempts to understand if the new law will change anything at all and if there’s any connection between child marriage and female genital mutilation.