Gambia President Yahya Jammeh has ordered legislation to ban child marriage, saying anyone marrying a girl aged below 18 should be jailed for up to 20 years, and that parents and imams who perform the ceremonies should also face prison.
Around 46% of girls in the Muslim state wed before they are 18, according to the UN children’s agency (Unicef).
In December last year, the president also outlawed female genital
mutilation (FGM) with a prison sentence of up to three years for those that ignored the ban, saying that the practice had no place in Islam or in modern society.