Trigger warning: human rights violation, child marriage.
An influential 63-year-old priest married a 12-year-old girl in Ghana, sparking outrage among locals who say the union constitutes a human rights violation.
The ceremony took place on Saturday (March 30) despite the legal minimum age to get married in Ghana being 18 years old.
Critics have called for the authorities to dissolve the marriage and investigate the priest, known as Nuumo Borketey Laweh Tsuru XXXIII, as per the BBC.
Tsuru is a “Gborbu Wulomo,” or traditional high priest, in the Nungua indigenous community in the capital, Accra.
He reportedly performs sacrifices on behalf of the community, prays for the community’s protection, enforces cultural practices, and leads traditional rites during events such as the installation of traditional chiefs.
A traditional Ghanian priest, 63, has sparked outrage after taking a 12-year-old girl as his “customary wife”
Image credits: Ablade TV
Responding to the backlash, community leaders have cited “customs and traditions” as reasons they believe legitimize the union.
One of them, Nii Bortey Kofi Frankwa II, says that the pre-teen started the rites to become the priest’s wife at age six and that the process didn’t interfere with her education.
According to the local news channel Ablade TV Online, the 12-year-old is part of the priest’s assumption of authority.
“The Gborbu Wulomo, having assumed his authority, must also take a ‘Boi ekpaa yoo’, his customary wife,” a Facebook post from the news channel reads.
The legal minimum age to get married in Ghana is 18 years old
Image credits: Ablade TV
Leaders of the Nungua indigenous community, to which both the girl and the priest belong, have denounced the criticism in regards to the marriage, saying the opposition “comes from a point of ignorance.”
In videos of the ceremony that have circulated online, guests speaking in the local language, Ga, can be heard advising the girl to dress “teasingly” for Tsuru and wear perfume to boost her “sex appeal.”
The girl is expected to undergo a second customary ceremony of purification for her new role. The ceremony will involve preparations for her future marital responsibilities, including childbearing.
Community leaders have cited “customs and traditions” to justify the union
Image credits: Freepik
Ghana is home to over two million child brides, with one in five girls aged 20 to 24 years married before the age of 18, UNICEF data shows.
Child marriage is considered a violation of human rights and a harmful traditional practice affecting more girls than boys. The practice has profound consequences on girls’ health and development, limiting their future economic and individual empowerment.
19% of girls in the country are married before they reach 18, while 5% get married before their 15th birthday, the NGO Girls Not Brides informs.
The Ghanaian government hasn’t yet responded to news of the marriage.
People have denounced the “disgusting” act, which constitutes a human rights violation
Reminds me of what General Napier said about Sati in India. "Be it so. This burning of widows is your custom; prepare the funeral pile. But my nation has also a custom. When men burn women alive we hang them, and confiscate all their property. My carpenters shall therefore erect gibbets on which to hang all concerned when the widow is consumed. Let us all act according to national customs."
Load More Replies...
Example #57473120847 on why ALL religions need to be dumped in the Waste Bin of History. Every single one can be used to control and dominate people against their will and their very humanity. Enough is enough. Time to progress and evolve
That, and throw atop of it - for every single kind, compassionate thing someone does, stating it was derived from religion, said religion has to be replaced, only way to use it for such is as a disguise for genuinely humanist, secularist, values. Every single one needs a lot less interpretation, let alone wrong interpretation, to do good than to do bad. And the basic thesis of some omnipotent entity is, put mildly, absurd and lacks evidence. Better off, we'd be without.
Load More Replies...
His "customary wife"?? Even if she wasn't TWELVE YEARS OLD, he wouldn't be marrying anyone out of love. The fact that she is twelve makes it all the more vile.
In California, this is legal because the radical kooks running California were afraid that if they prohibited it, they'd be trampling immigrants' culture. Oklahoma, New Mexico and MIssissippi leave it up to a judge to decide what too young is, but have never had a 12-year-old get married. By voting down legislation to prevent underaged marriages which were happening in California, California signaled to judges that the legislative intent is to "respect" such cultures, even though as you see in Ghana, it doesn't truly respect those cultures.
Yeah, those "kooks" being the ACLU and Planned Parenthood, are worried about, "Among their concerns is that a total ban on marriage of minors could be a slippery slope and impede constitutional rights or reproductive choices, including access to abortion." If you're gonna talk s**t at least post ALL the facts.
Load More Replies...
Fück “customs and traditions”. That’s is a child. He is old enough to be her grandfather. Disgusting.
Their minimal age for marriage is 18.So he can't legally marry her. Surely priest isn't above the law?
This is why we can't be tolerant towards many religions and cultures, they're just wild p3dos like Muslims.
Reminds me of what General Napier said about Sati in India. "Be it so. This burning of widows is your custom; prepare the funeral pile. But my nation has also a custom. When men burn women alive we hang them, and confiscate all their property. My carpenters shall therefore erect gibbets on which to hang all concerned when the widow is consumed. Let us all act according to national customs."
Load More Replies... Example #57473120847 on why ALL religions need to be dumped in the Waste Bin of History. Every single one can be used to control and dominate people against their will and their very humanity. Enough is enough. Time to progress and evolve
That, and throw atop of it - for every single kind, compassionate thing someone does, stating it was derived from religion, said religion has to be replaced, only way to use it for such is as a disguise for genuinely humanist, secularist, values. Every single one needs a lot less interpretation, let alone wrong interpretation, to do good than to do bad. And the basic thesis of some omnipotent entity is, put mildly, absurd and lacks evidence. Better off, we'd be without.
Load More Replies... His "customary wife"?? Even if she wasn't TWELVE YEARS OLD, he wouldn't be marrying anyone out of love. The fact that she is twelve makes it all the more vile.
In California, this is legal because the radical kooks running California were afraid that if they prohibited it, they'd be trampling immigrants' culture. Oklahoma, New Mexico and MIssissippi leave it up to a judge to decide what too young is, but have never had a 12-year-old get married. By voting down legislation to prevent underaged marriages which were happening in California, California signaled to judges that the legislative intent is to "respect" such cultures, even though as you see in Ghana, it doesn't truly respect those cultures.
Yeah, those "kooks" being the ACLU and Planned Parenthood, are worried about, "Among their concerns is that a total ban on marriage of minors could be a slippery slope and impede constitutional rights or reproductive choices, including access to abortion." If you're gonna talk s**t at least post ALL the facts.
Load More Replies... Fück “customs and traditions”. That’s is a child. He is old enough to be her grandfather. Disgusting.
Their minimal age for marriage is 18.So he can't legally marry her. Surely priest isn't above the law?
This is why we can't be tolerant towards many religions and cultures, they're just wild p3dos like Muslims.
37
18