HARARE: The United Nations Children’s Fund on Friday welcomed a Zimbabwean top court ruling this week that outlaws the practice of child marriage, particularly in the rural areas, which had left many helpless children at the mercy of pedophiles. According to the ruling, no person under the age of 18 shall enter a valid marriage, the nine-member bench ruled, striking down a section of the Marriages Act which allowed 16-year-olds to marry. Prior to the ruling, the minimum marriageable age under general law in Zimbabwe was 16 for girls and 18 for boys. A spokesperson of the UNICEF’s Zimbabwe country office told Xinhua that the U.N. agency welcomes the ruling as a step in the right direction in respect of the realization of the rights of the children in Zimbabwe. The spokesperson further urged Zimbabwean authorities to accelerate the reform of both the Marriage Act and the Customary Marriage Act to align them with the constitution. “Beyond this ruling, we need to put in place measures that address the causes of child marriages. This will require the concerted efforts of all – families, communities, traditional and religious leaders, and state institutions,” he added. Several other organizations have also voiced their support for the ruling, with the Women in Law Southern Africa saying it was an important one to all fair minded Zimbabweans. “This ruling is a landmark for all women, girls and every fair minded Zimbabwean,” WiLSA director Slyvia Chirawu was quoted by the state-run newspaper the Herald as saying. Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) welcomed the ruling saying the outlawing of this primitive practice is in line with international, regional and national efforts to end child marriages. “Child marriages pose a serious risk to the lives and future of children particularly girls, as well as to the developmental aspirations of a nation,” ZLHR said in a statement. It urged stakeholders to develop strategies and action plans to raise awareness of and address the harmful impact of child marriages. According to the Zimbabwe Multiple Indicator Monitoring Survey, 21 percent of children, mostly girls, are married before the age of 18, largely because of poverty and cultural and religious practices. In some cases, the children would have been rape victims and fallen pregnant, with perpetrators opting to settle the dispute by way of marriage instead of being reported to the police and subsequently imprisoned.