WUNRN
Dhaka Tribune - Bangladesh
The women’s rights activists in the country expressed grave concern over the cabinet’s recent decision to lower the age limit for marriage to 16 years for females and 18 years for males.
The Children Act 2013 considers everyone under the age of 18 years
to be children in the country
“The government’s intention may be good in trying to reduce the number of child marriages in the country, but its way of doing it is not wise,” the activists commented.
The officials at the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs said this decision was a step towards the government’s goal to reduce child marriage rate in the country by 2021.
“They cannot even explain why they are reducing the age limit for males too,” the activists said. “This situation only proves that the authorities concerned have not done proper research on this issue and took the decision just to reduce percentage.”
In the Girl Summit 2014 held in London in July, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina made a commitment to end child marriage in the country, saying: “Our country has progressed in promoting female education and gender parity, but child marriage remains a problem.
“To reach that goal, the ministry thinks if they reduce the age limit, it will automatically reduce the child marriage rate,” said a ministry official, seeking anonymity.
However, Meher Afroz Chumky, state minister for women and children affairs, refuted the claim and said: “In our country, girls become matured by the age of 14. This may become a burden for many families. If the country allows the parents to marry their daughters off at young age, many social problems may cease to exist as well.”
But when asked why the age limit of males were also being reduced, Chumky refused to answer and said nothing was decided yet.
Conflicting laws regarding age limits
The activists also raised the issue of a conflict in the existing laws regarding the age limit of children and child marriage.
According to the Child Marriage Restraint Act 1929, females under 18 years and males under 21 years are not eligible to get married, which the cabinet suggested to change to 16 years and 18 years, respectively.
However, the Children Act 2013 considers everyone under the age of 18 years to be children in the country.
So, in order to implement the government’s decision, the Children Act also needs to be revised, the activists said.
The Citizens’ Initiatives on CEDAW, Bangladesh (CIC-BD), a platform of 47 non-government right-based organisations, said the government’s move was conflicting to national and international acts and policies. They asked the government to refrain from taking such a decision.
Salma Ali, president of Bangladesh National Women Lawyers’ Association, expressed concern over the issue, saying, the decision, if implemented, would affect the society. “In our existing law, a 16-year-old is considered a child. If this decision is implemented, we will be legalising child marriage through another law.”
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