VOA慢速英语: 津巴布韦试行女孩结婚年龄新规

Zimbabwean Government on Trial Over Marriage Age for Girls

津巴布韦政府实行女孩婚龄新规

A girl tries to escape as she is forced to get married in the town of Marigat in Baringo County December 7, 2014. (REUTERS/Siegfried Modola)

The African nation of Zimbabwe has long been known as a "hot spot" for child marriages. The United Nations says that as many as 31 percent of Zimbabwean girls are married before the age of 18. But, two such girls say enough is enough. They are taking steps to raise the legal age at which girls can be married.

非洲的津巴布韦一直是童婚的“热点地区”。联合国报告称津巴布韦31%的女孩在18岁之前就结婚了。但是两个女孩说到达18岁就可以。她们正在采取措施提高女孩结婚的合法年龄。

Loveness Mudzuru and Ruvimbo Tsopodzi were just girls when they were married and gave birth for the first time. Now they are hoping to correct what they say was a violation of their rights. Zimbabwe's highest court is now considering the case of the two young women.

妮丝·马德祖（Loveness Mudzuru）和韦薄·提普迪兹（Ruvimbo Tsopodzi）她们就是18岁之前结婚，然后生孩子。现在她们希望能纠正对她们权益的侵害。津巴布韦最高法院正在审理这两位年轻女士的案子。

They are seeking to raise the legal marriage age for girls from 16 years to 18 – the same as it is for boys. They also want to cancel existing child marriages. If the court agrees with them, the ruling could affect countless girls and their families.

她们希望提高合法婚龄，将男孩女孩的婚龄从16岁改到18岁。她们还希望能够取消现存的童婚制度。如果法院采纳了她们的意见，这项规定就会影响无数的女孩和她们的家庭。

Former finance minister Tendai Biti is serving as the lawyer for the two women. He argued in court this month that the legal age should be 18. That way, he says, the young women are old enough to make their own decisions.

前任财政部长特恩·拜提（Tendai Biti）是这两位女士的代理律师。这个月在法庭，他辩论到合法婚龄应该是18岁。这样的话，年轻女孩就能够独立自主的做决定。

"One in three Zimbabwean women is marrying below the age of 18. Twenty-five percent are, in fact, being married or impregnated before the age of 15. So these are young children."

“津巴布韦三分之一的女性未满18岁就结婚了。事实上，25%的人还未满15岁就结婚或者怀孕。她们还是年轻的孩子。”

Tendai Biti argued in court that Zimbabwe's new constitution identifies 18 as the legal age to decide to have a family. He said that approving marriage at a younger age violates Article 56 of the constitution, which guarantees equal protection under the law.

特恩·拜提在法庭上辩论津巴布韦新宪法规定18岁是组建家庭的合法年龄。他说同意更早结婚违反了宪法第56条条款，宪法保护每位公民的合法权益。

Emmily Naphambo is with the development group Plan International. She says child marriage fails to protect the rights of children, and needs to end.

艾米丽·娜普汗博是国际计划发展组织的成员。她说童婚不能保障儿童的权益，需要结束。

"We have very high prevalence of child marriages – second from South Asia. So as a region, we are at 37 percent, but within that region we have ‘hot spots,' which are countries with even much higher prevalence rates above 37 percent. For example, in Mozambique, in Malawi, in Zimbabwe, in Zambia, in all these countries, the prevalence rates are pretty close to 50 percent. For every 100 girls, 50 of them are already married by the time they are 18 years old."

“这里的童婚非常普遍——仅次于南亚。因此，作为一个地区，童婚比例占37%，但我们是‘热点区域’，一些国家的比例超过37%。比如，在莫桑比克、乌拉维、津巴布韦、赞比亚这些国家中，童婚所占比例接近50%。每100名女孩中，一半的女孩18岁时就已经结婚了。”

Opponents of child marriage say it is often a result of poverty, lack of knowledge and cultural beliefs. They note such marriages can lead to human rights violations. For example, marriage at an early age can prevent a girl from continuing her education. It can also reduce the chance of her getting a good job and good health care.

反对童婚的人表示童婚普遍通常是由于贫穷、缺乏知识和文化信仰的原因。童婚是对人权的侵犯。例如，过早结婚剥夺了女孩继续接受教育机会，同时也减少了她获得一份好工作和医疗保障的权利机会。

Zimbabwean officials say the results of child marriages can even be deadly. They say the nation's high death rates for children and mothers can be linked to the large number of mothers who are too young.

津巴布韦官员称童婚导致的结果很严重。津巴布韦儿童和妇女的高死亡率与大量的女性太早结婚有关。

It is not clear when the Constitutional Court will rule in the case.

还不清楚宪法法院什么时候会宣告判决。

I'm Caty Weaver.

我是凯蒂·威弗尔。

This report was based on a story from reporter Sebastian Mhofu in Harare. George Grow wrote this story for VOA Learning English. Mario Ritter was the editor.

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Words in This Story

child - n. a boy or girl

correct - v. to change to what is right

court - n. where trials take place; where judges make decisions about the law

cultural - adj. of or related to the beliefs, traditions and arts of a population or group