LAWS ON CHILD MARRIAGE.
1.
A national law which makes the legal age of marriage 18 for everyone is the starting point for legislating against child marriage.
For this law to be effective, it must:
​
-
take priority over any religious, customary, cultural, or personal laws which allow child marriage
-
have no exceptions for parental or other types of consent
-
have no exceptions for pregnancy or rape.
In countries which are ‘federated’ - where states within the country have some independence to make their own laws - a national law which bans child marriage should explicitly take priority over any state law which does not. For example, India has a national law which takes priority over state law. Another example is the United States, which does not have a national law that bans child marriage. Instead, each of the 50 states has their own laws - and the majority of states do not have a law which bans child marriage.
Pakistan is an interesting example, where efforts to raise the national legal age for marriage to 18 for girls failed. Instead, some states have changed their laws to raise the legal age to 18, and now have stronger laws than the national law.
There are other laws specific to child marriage which could be created to support an outright ban.
2.
Countries can make it illegal to arrange or commit children to a child marriage.
Long before a marriage ceremony happens, some countries allow families to commit their children to marriages. This can happen as early as birth, or even before a child is born. This practice may be known as betrothal, or arranging or fixing a child marriage. Nepal is an example of a country which has made this practice illegal, and those involved in this act can be punished.
​
3.
Making the payment of a dowry or ‘bride price’ illegal.
Some traditional practices include the expectation that money or gifts are given by one family to the other on the occasion of a marriage between the two families. A dowry is traditionally paid by the bride’s family, and a ‘bride price’ is paid by the groom’s family - which one is paid depends on the religion, culture, or tradition. Making these practices illegal can prevent child marriages. India has banned the payment of dowries, and Kenya has banned the payment of bride prices.
4.
Prosecuting officials and suppliers who participate in a child marriage.
Many people can be involved in a child marriage ceremony - some examples are:
-
the official who delivers the marriage service - often this is a cultural, religious, or community leader
-
companies which provide items such as wedding clothes, decorations, food, and venues
-
the official who records a child marriage in government records.
In Nepal, an official who conducts a child marriage can be prosecuted. In India, officials and suppliers involved in child marriages can be prosecuted.
5.
Making it a crime to abduct, transport, or traffic children for the purpose of child marriage.
Girls can be abducted from their homes, or tricked into leaving their homes, and forced into child marriages. Similarly, not all child marriages are a result of both the families of the groom and the bride agreeing to the marriage. There are different ways this may happen.
In areas impacted by conflict, armed militias may abduct one or more girls from a community for the purpose of marrying them off to soldiers. Often, girls in these situations are also exploited in other ways.
Girls can be tricked by men into believing they are going for a day out, or on a date, when they are really being abducted for the purpose of a child marriage. This can happen anywhere - for example, in countries where pre-marital sex is perceived to be shameful, or where it is illegal.
An extreme version of transporting children for marriage is when families live in countries where child marriage is difficult to practise, and girls are taken ‘on holiday’ to be married in a country where child marriage is more easily practised. In this instance, if only one parent took the child to another country for a marriage without the agreement or knowledge of the other parent, then this would be abduction and transportation. If both parents knew and agreed, this would just be transportation. Both should be crimes.
Poorer families in lower-income countries can also be tricked by traffickers into sending their daughters away, in the belief that they will be given paid work and the opportunity to continue their education. Instead, the girls are married off, and usually exploited as domestic labourers in the home of their husband’s family.
Most countries have laws against abducting and trafficking people, and many countries have more severe punishments when a child has been abducted or trafficked. However, creating a specific law which criminalises the act of abduction or trafficking a child for the purpose of marriage can act as a further deterrent against child marriage. This is the case in Kenya, for example.
6.
Creating a law to allow people who were married as children to end or ‘annul’ their marriages.
In countries where child marriage is banned but is still practised, a law which provides people who were married as children with a way to report and escape their marriages can act as a deterrent against child marriage.
​
Once a child marriage ceremony is conducted, families often believe that it is too late for the law to intervene - especially if they do not have to legally register the marriage, if there is an accepted delay to registering the marriage, or if marriage registration laws are not properly implemented.
​
In addition, many countries’ laws will recognise a marriage as legal once it has taken place, which can especially protect the rights of the girls or women - for example if they have had a child, or if they would be left destitute should the law intervene and deem their marriage to be illegal.
​
If there is a law which gives people a way to report their child marriage and end it, this means that those involved in making the marriage happen can still be prosecuted.
Such a law would need to:​​
Protect the safety of girls and women, by ensuring that there is emergency financial support if they have been dependent on their husband or his family, and providing access to secure housing for them and any children they might have.
Declare the marriage ‘void’, particularly for girls and women not to be stigmatised by the marriage, while ensuring any children from the marriage are still legally entitled to financial support and inheritance from their father’s family.
Provide longer-term rehabilitative support for victims, such as counselling, state compensation or financial maintenance (or alimony) from the adult spouse or their family, and legal support throughout the prosecution process.
Provide support for for re-enrolment in school and catch up on any education missed as a result of the child marriage, if the victim is still a child when they report the marriage.
If a child marriage victim is 18 years old or older, they should be able to make an informed and final decision on whether or not this law is implemented. This means that they understand what protection and financial support is available to them and any children, and that they have the final say on whether or not their marriage is declared void (or ‘annulled’).
India’s Prohibition of Child Marriage Act includes many of these mechanisms, although it limits the period in which a marriage can be reported to two years after reaching the age of majority. This means that once a woman is 21 years old, this law no longer applies.
