region have no specific legal age of consent and people in these countries can only engage in sexual activities if they are married. In some countries, the age of consent is gender specific: • • Zambia and Malawi, for example, criminalise defilement, defined as sexual intercourse with a girl below the age of consent. In Zambia and Malawi, defilement provisions do not, therefore, apply to boys below the age of consent, unlike in Zimbabwe and South Africa. Other countries that followed a similar position have since reviewed or reformed their laws and adopted gender-neutral provisions such as Uganda and Kenya. On the other hand, it used to be the position in other countries to have different ages of consent for girls and boys. International guidelines however suggest the following: • • • 7. Countries should clearly provide for the age of consent to sexual activity in law; The age of consent to sexual activity should be appropriate, taking into account the evolving capacity, age and maturity of young people; and The age of consent to sexual activity should be non-discriminatory on the basis of, among other things, gender and marital status.3 WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES WITH THE AGE OF CONSENT IN ZIMBABWE AS IT CURRENTLY STANDS? It is a notorious fact for recognition that children in Zimbabwe - as elsewhere - are indulging in sexual activity from an early age. This raises the question of access to contraceptives, termination of pregnancy, and other sexual and reproductive health services. In Zimbabwe, 3 SRHR Africa Trust (SAT) “Age of Consent: Global Legal Review” page 11. Available at https://www.trust.org/contentAsset/raw-data/b4e4a24b-f66d-4170-aa46-6713e038e139/file. The report records as follows: The CRC Committee has noted that countries who have ratified the CRC are required to ensure that specific legal provisions are provided for under domestic law that clearly set a minimum age for sexual consent. Further, the CRC Committee notes that the minimum age for sexual consent should be the same for males and females and that the minimum age should reflect the evolving capacity, age and maturity of the child. (Committee on the Rights of the Child (2003) General Comment No 4 (2003) Adolescent Health and Development in the Context of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1 July 2003, CRC/GC.2003/4 at para 9). General Comment No 22 (2016) on the Right to Sexual and Reproductive Health (UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (2016) General Comment No. 22 (2016) on the Right to sexual and reproductive health, 4 March 2016, E/C.12/ GC/22) stresses the need for non-discrimination in the context of the right to sexual and reproductive health; (CESCR (2016) General Comment No 22 (2016) at para 23) on this basis laws on Age of Consent to sex should also ensure they apply uniformly to all persons, irrespective of sexual orientation, gender identity or intersex status. 8