{"id":2042,"date":"2025-03-29T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-29T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.girlsnotbrides.org\/en\/articles\/girls-not-brides-kenya-statement-on-murder-of-gaala-aden-abdi-and-need-to-end-child-marriage-in-kenya\/"},"modified":"2025-03-29T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-03-29T00:00:00","slug":"girls-not-brides-kenya-statement-on-murder-of-gaala-aden-abdi-and-need-to-end-child-marriage-in-kenya","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.girlsnotbrides.ctechapp.com\/?p=2042","title":{"rendered":"Girls Not Brides Kenya: Statement on the Brutal Murder of Gaala Aden Abdi and the Urgent Need to End Child Marriage in Kenya"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Girls Not Brides Kenya<\/i><\/a> is deeply saddened and outraged by the horrific murder of 17-year-old Gaala Aden Abdi, a refugee from Dadaab Refugee Camp. Gaala was forcibly married to a 55-year-old man, subjected to severe abuse, and ultimately murdered \u2014 her body burned beyond recognition in Wajir County.<\/p>\n

We acknowledge the arrest of the perpetrator and demand that justice is swift and uncompromising. This brutal act is not an isolated tragedy; it is a glaring indictment of the persistent violations of girls\u2019 rights in Kenya.<\/p>\n

Every year, 12 million girls are married before the age of 18, that\u2019s 23 girls every minute, nearly one every three seconds.<\/b> Child marriage is not a cultural practice to be tolerated; it is a human rights violation rooted in gender inequality and reinforced by poverty, lack of education, harmful social norms, and insecurity.<\/p>\n

Kenya\u2019s Legal Commitments<\/h2>\n

Kenya is a signatory to several regional and international instruments and has enacted legal frameworks designed to protect women and girls from gender-based violence, child marriage, and other harmful practices. These include:<\/p>\n

National Legal Frameworks:<\/h3>\n
    \n
  • The Constitution of Kenya (2010) \u2013 Guarantees gender equality, non-discrimination, and protection from violence.<\/li>\n
  • The Marriage Act (2014) \u2013 Sets the legal marriage age at 18 and criminalises child marriage.<\/li>\n
  • The Protection Against Domestic Violence Act (2015) \u2013 Provides legal protection against domestic violence, including child marriage.<\/li>\n
  • The Children Act (2022) \u2013 Strengthens child protection measures and reinforces the legal framework against child marriage.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Regional Instruments:<\/h3>\n
      \n
    • The Maputo Protocol \u2013 Protects women\u2019s rights and criminalizes harmful practices, including child marriage.<\/li>\n
    • The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC) \u2013 Safeguards children\u2019s rights and prohibits child marriage.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      International Instruments:<\/h3>\n
        \n
      • The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) \u2013 Mandates the eradication of discriminatory practices against women and girls.<\/li>\n
      • The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) \u2013 Affirms the rights of every child to be protected from harmful practices, including early and forced marriage.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        A Call to Action<\/h2>\n

        Gaala\u2019s tragic death must serve as a wake-up call.<\/p>\n

        We urge the government to:<\/b><\/p>\n

          \n
        • Enforce existing laws against child and forced marriages, ensuring that perpetrators face the full force of the law.<\/li>\n
        • Strengthen prevention efforts, including community awareness campaigns to challenge harmful norms and attitudes.<\/li>\n
        • Expand support services for survivors, ensuring access to shelter, legal aid, psychosocial support, and education opportunities.<\/li>\n
        • Enhance protection mechanisms for vulnerable girls, especially refugees, who are at heightened risk of child marriage and gender-based violence.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

          We stand in unwavering solidarity with Gaala, with survivors, and with all those working to ensure that no girl is ever forced into marriage, abused, or killed simply for being born a girl.<\/p>\n

          Signed,<\/b>
          Co-Conveners:<\/b><\/p>\n

            \n
          • Samburu Girls Foundation<\/b>,
            Wanjiru Wahome, Executive Director.<\/li>\n
          • Orchid Project<\/b>,
            Macharia Karanja, Programmes Manager.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            The Girls Not Brides Kenya is deeply saddened and outraged by the horrific murder of 17-year-old Gaala Aden Abdi, a refugee from Dadaab Refugee Camp. Gaala was forcibly married to a 55-year-old man, subjected to severe abuse, and ultimately murdered \u2014 her body burned beyond recognition in Wajir County. We acknowledge the arrest of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2056,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[59],"class_list":["post-2042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-kenya"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.girlsnotbrides.ctechapp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.girlsnotbrides.ctechapp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.girlsnotbrides.ctechapp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.girlsnotbrides.ctechapp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.girlsnotbrides.ctechapp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.girlsnotbrides.ctechapp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2042\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.girlsnotbrides.ctechapp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.girlsnotbrides.ctechapp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.girlsnotbrides.ctechapp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.girlsnotbrides.ctechapp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}