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"Apartheid sought to quite deliberately hamstring a whole community, and this practice does the same thing. It is in fact hamstringing whole communities, preventing them from developing as they could have developed if girl children were given the opportunity of staying longer in school."
An estimated 10 million children are married off each year worldwide. Niger, in west Africa, has the highest prevalence with three-quarters of girls forced into marriage before 18 years of age, according to statistics by global health agencies.
"I look at my grandchildren and I say, had they been born elsewhere, these children would have been brides, and that really shook me," Tutu earlier told a meeting of activists battling child marriage.
Tutu said that if the "scourge" was not brought to an end soon, the world can forget about achieving the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) aimed at slashing poverty and hunger, and boosting access to health care and education for all, by 2015.
"Just in terms of maternal health, you already have huge problems, and we found that six of the eight MDGs we can just give up on. There's no hope."
The rate at which children are being given away to marriage has been on the rise, and conflicts and droughts ravaging parts of the continent have worsened the situation.
Human rights campaigner Graca Machel, Nelson Mandela's wife, told the meeting organised by the UK-based global charity Girls Not Brides: "No one has the right to determine what is the life of another human being -- even when you are a parent, even if you are a caregiver."
The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) estimate that if nothing is done to rein in the practice, 142 million girls would be married before their 18th birthday by 2020.
Tutu encouraged the female activists at the two-day meeting in Johannesburg to take to the front line in the battle against child marriages.
"What we really need is a revolution led by women," he said.
"You are more powerful than you think," said Tutu, citing Zimbabwe as an example how influential women can be.
"I think a lot of the trouble in Zimbabwe is because of women. When President Mugabe had Sally, his first wife, the Ghanaian... (he) was one of the best presidents in the world.
"Then Sally died, if you just look at when... the change happened and then he married a girl young enough to be his grand-daughter."
Sidiku Moussa, head of a coalition of children's rights NGOs in Niger (CONIDE) said religion fuelled early marriages. Many of the faithful interpret the Koran literally to justify their taking a child bride, arguing that the Prophet Mohamed took a nine-year-old wife.
"The problem we have in Niger republic, 99 percent of the population are Muslims, that is the reason why we have early marriages, even forced marriages, and that is why we have this rate," Moussa told AFP.
A soon-to-be published report by World Vision-UK showed that early marriages are perceived as a refuge from hunger, malnutrition, and even from rape and sexual assault during conflicts.
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An estimated 10 million children are married off each year worldwide. Niger, in west Africa, has the highest prevalence with three-quarters of girls forced into marriage before 18 years of age, according to statistics by global health agencies.
"I look at my grandchildren and I say, had they been born elsewhere, these children would have been brides, and that really shook me," Tutu earlier told a meeting of activists battling child marriage.
Tutu said that if the "scourge" was not brought to an end soon, the world can forget about achieving the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) aimed at slashing poverty and hunger, and boosting access to health care and education for all, by 2015.
"Just in terms of maternal health, you already have huge problems, and we found that six of the eight MDGs we can just give up on. There's no hope."
The rate at which children are being given away to marriage has been on the rise, and conflicts and droughts ravaging parts of the continent have worsened the situation.
Human rights campaigner Graca Machel, Nelson Mandela's wife, told the meeting organised by the UK-based global charity Girls Not Brides: "No one has the right to determine what is the life of another human being -- even when you are a parent, even if you are a caregiver."
The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) estimate that if nothing is done to rein in the practice, 142 million girls would be married before their 18th birthday by 2020.
Tutu encouraged the female activists at the two-day meeting in Johannesburg to take to the front line in the battle against child marriages.
"What we really need is a revolution led by women," he said.
"You are more powerful than you think," said Tutu, citing Zimbabwe as an example how influential women can be.
"I think a lot of the trouble in Zimbabwe is because of women. When President Mugabe had Sally, his first wife, the Ghanaian... (he) was one of the best presidents in the world.
"Then Sally died, if you just look at when... the change happened and then he married a girl young enough to be his grand-daughter."
Sidiku Moussa, head of a coalition of children's rights NGOs in Niger (CONIDE) said religion fuelled early marriages. Many of the faithful interpret the Koran literally to justify their taking a child bride, arguing that the Prophet Mohamed took a nine-year-old wife.
"The problem we have in Niger republic, 99 percent of the population are Muslims, that is the reason why we have early marriages, even forced marriages, and that is why we have this rate," Moussa told AFP.
A soon-to-be published report by World Vision-UK showed that early marriages are perceived as a refuge from hunger, malnutrition, and even from rape and sexual assault during conflicts.
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