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Traditional authorities in Bawku have been urged to use their authority to end child-marriages as it was a threat to the development of the girl-child.

The child marriage concern, a situation where children under eighteen years are allowed to go into marriage has over the years been a major infringement on the educational and social development rights of the girl-child in the society.

Mr James Twene, the Acting Regional Director of the Gender Department, made the call on Monday at a one day workshop, organised to sensitize traditional authorities on the need to end child marriages.

The event was organized by the Gender Department in the Upper East Region in collaboration with the Bawku Municipal Assembly and sponsored by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

Statistics made available by the UNFPA and the Gender Department indicates that child-marriage was a growing practice and more common in the country’s northern zones and rural areas.

Mr Twene said the 2014 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey (GDHS), showed that soon, one out of five girls will be getting married before their 18th birthday if the practice was not halted.

He said the legal age for marriage in Ghana was 18 years and above and that Act 560 of the children’s act enshrined in the constitution prohibits any person who was below that age to get married.

Mr Twene said gender inequality, poverty, lack of education, negative traditional values, cultural and religious practices, low appreciation of women’s role in the society, failure to enforce laws that protect children’s right as the major causes that promote child-marriage in the communities.

The implications of child-marriage on the girl-child include increased of maternal and infant’s health risks as a result of underdeveloped biological and reproductive systems of the teenage mothers, he said.

Mr Twene urged the participants to use their authority to put in place policies that would help deter people from practicing child-marriages and advocate for the abolishing of child-marriage on national platforms.

Naba Asigri Abugragoe Azoka ll, Paramount Chief of the Bawku traditional area, commended the effort of the Municipal Assembly and the UNFPA for the initiative and said his traditional area has already embarked on the crusade to fight the child-marriage menace and ensure it was eradicated from the area.

Naba Azoka urged the Divisional and Sub-Chiefs of the area to wage war against the practice as it was a threat to the development of the area