Parliament of Kenya
As a follow up to the Strategic Dialogue between Parliamentarians and Civil Society Representatives on Harmful Practices in Kenya that took place on December 16, 2020, PGA facilitated a meeting between Members of Parliament of Kenya and members of Girls Not Brides’ National Partnership in Kenya to discuss concrete actions to end child, early and forced marriage. They met in the Kenyan Parliament on February 18, 2021.
Participants:
Six Kenyan Parliamentarians: Board member Hon. Millie Odhiambo Mabona, Hon. Dennitah Gati, Hon. Shakeel Shabir, Hon. Prof. Jacqueline Oduol, Hon. Martha Wangari, and Hon. Tim Wanyonyi
Girls Not Brides Kenya:
- Faith Lanoi Mpoke, Plan International
- Macharia Karanja, Youth Anti-FGM Network
- Esther Njenga, 28 Too Many
- Samantha Oswago, EACH Rights
- Brenda Dora, Africa Capacity Alliance
- Millicent Ondigo
- Noleen Sang (Girls Not Brides – global office)
Key requests:
- Champion child marriage and create awareness of child marriage in parliamentarians’ work and within their constituencies.
- Support policies, laws and strategies to end child marriage to include in the National Strategy to End Child Marriage.
- Support either the expansion of the mandate of the Anti- FGM Board to cover Child Marriage or create a similar, separate body focused on child marriage.
- Work closely together towards ending child marriage.
Next steps and action points:
- Legislation: Civil society representatives proposed a consideration to extend the mandate of the current Anti-FGM board to include Child Marriage as a low hanging fruit for quick turn arounds. The alternative would be to have a separate body addressing CM put in place and that might take a longer period. We agreed to have further conversations on this to ensure buy in from all stakeholders.
- The Children Act Kenya: is due for amendment. Hon. Odhiambo and Hon. Ghati committed to working with civil society representatives to make the language stronger so for advocacy purposes.
- Motion on Child Marriage: MPs also committed to present a motion on child marriage in Parliament and utilize an hour they usually have on Thursdays to place the issue of child marriage on the floor for discussion.
- Parliament Networks and Social Media: Messaging on child marriage will be passed on to other networks within parliament to include:
- SDGs caucus
- Scouting caucus
- Children’s caucus
- The Kenya Women Parliamentary Association (KEWOPA)
- The Kenya Disability Parliamentary Association (KEDIPA)
PGA’s Global Campaign to End Child, Early and Forced Marriage maintains close communications with both stakeholders and will assist parliamentarians in this program of work to ensure these action points are implemented.
For more information, please contact Mónica Adame, Director of Gender, Equality and Inclusion Program, at monica.adame@pgaction.org
