Africa Outlawed Child Marriage and FGM. Why Are Millions of Girls Still Unprotected?

Across Africa, governments have passed laws to protect girls from child marriage and Female Genital Mutilation. But a new report warns that for millions of girls, those protections remain distant, uneven and often meaningless in practice.

The report, released by the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child with support from Equality Now, draws on case studies from Chad, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Egypt, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria, Somalia, Sudan and Zimbabwe. Its central finding is stark: Africa has made progress in law, but not enough progress in enforcement.

This is not simply a story about harmful practices. It is a story about the gap between what governments promise and what girls experience.

In many countries, child marriage and FGM are prohibited by law. Yet legal loopholes, weak enforcement, customary and religious exceptions, poor access to justice and fragile public institutions continue to leave girls exposed. The report argues that laws on paper are failing because the systems meant to activate them are too weak.

Climate shocks, conflict and economic hardship are making the problem worse. In communities affected by drought, displacement or poverty, families may see early marriage as a survival strategy. Schools close. Child protection systems weaken. Reporting channels disappear. Social pressure grows stronger.

In these conditions, the law may exist, but it does not arrive.

The report notes that less than half of African countries set the minimum marriage age at 18 without exception. In some places, parental consent, judicial approval, customary law or religious practice can still open the door to child marriage. That means a girl’s legal protection can depend less on national law than on where she lives, who controls the local system and whether anyone is willing or able to intervene.

FGM presents a similar enforcement crisis. Several African countries have passed bans, but the practice continues in communities where social norms remain powerful and accountability is limited. In some cases, girls are taken across borders to avoid national restrictions. In others, medicalisation has allowed the practice to continue under the appearance of formal care.

The report also warns of legal rollback. In The Gambia, debate over repealing the country’s FGM ban has shown that progress is not guaranteed. In Mali, proposed anti-FGM provisions were removed from the 2024 Penal Code after resistance from religious leaders.

That is the deeper issue. The strongest law in many communities is not always the one written by parliament. It is the one enforced by social expectation.

This is why legal reform alone is not enough.

The report points to Malawi and Zimbabwe as examples of what progress can look like when law, leadership and enforcement align. In Malawi, traditional leaders such as Chief Theresa Kachindamoto have helped annul thousands of child marriages. In Zimbabwe, a Constitutional Court ruling helped drive legal reform that set the marriage age at 18 without exceptions.

These examples show that change is possible. But they also show what change requires: not only legislation, but authority, coordination, local legitimacy and implementation.

For African governments, the message is clear. Passing laws is no longer enough. States must close legal loopholes, align customary and religious systems with child rights standards, strengthen birth and marriage registration, fund child protection systems and ensure survivors can access justice and support.

The report’s most important warning is not that Africa lacks laws. It is that laws are failing to reach the girls they were written to protect.

A law that cannot protect a girl in her own home is not protection. It is a broken promise.

‍