Sierra Leone's First Child Marriage Trial Tests Enforcement of 2024 Law

Four men—including a girl's father and alleged husband—face charges in Freetown's High Court under Sierra Leone's new Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, passed in June and signed by President Julius Maada Bio in July. The trial marks the first prosecution under the statute, which ended a legal gap where customary and Islamic practices had governed marriage. It will reveal whether courts enforce the law against entrenched traditions.