Judgment No. CCZ 12/2015 39 Const. Application No. 79/14 Elizabeth Warner found that while the prevalence of child marriage cuts across many different countries with different cultural and religious traditions, certain factors pertaining to the practice were nearly universal. She found that the marriage of a girl child is almost always arranged by her parents or guardian whose desires take precedence over the wishes of the child. The marriage is a bartered transaction, accompanied by payment of a negotiated bride-price from the groom’s family to the bride’s family. In general, the younger the bride the higher the price she will fetch. Girls are usually married to much older men who can afford to pay the bride price. The marriage is immediately consummated and the girl made to start bearing children immediately. A study by the Division of Policy and Practice of UNICEF titled “Child Marriage and the Law” (April 2007) at p 31–32 looked at the causes of child marriage. It states: “Poverty is one of the main determinants of early marriage. In many countries in the Middle East, South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa poverty drives families to give their daughters in marriage in the hope that this will alleviate the family’s poverty and secure the family’s honour when it is at stake. Although child marriage is seen as a way to escape the cycle of poverty, child marriage in fact worsens the cycle of intergenerational poverty. Although poverty is one of the underlying causes of child marriage as parents see this as an opportunity to receive money or save money, child marriage is not restricted to poor families. Child marriage is also one way of preserving wealth in families of a higher socio–economic class.” The horrific consequences of child marriage were set out in the UNICEF report in paras. 33–35 with such admirable clarity that it would be an injustice to the study to paraphrase the findings. They are set out as follows: 4.5. Consequences of Child Marriage Although child marriage most often stems from poverty and powerlessness it only further reinforces the gendered notions of poverty and powerlessness stultifying