Child marriage has no religious boundary

As disturbing, Al Rawi said, was that the girls were between 11 and 17 years, and some of the men they married were 36, 46 and 52 years.

Contrary to beliefs that child marriages were “Muslim and Hindu” practices, Al Rawi said that “child marriage has no religious boundary. It is across the board.” He disclosed that of the 3,478 child marriages, 1,156 were civil marriages which included Christian or non Christians, 526 were Muslims, and 1,796, Hindus. At the start of consultations on child marriages last year, Al Rawi had given statistics that covered 2006 to 2016. Also contrary to popular belief that child marriages were common in rural areas, he said, they were in fact more prevalent in urban areas. Noting that religious reasons, in terms of pregnancy and live births, were the most powerful arguments given for child marriage, Al Rawi said that between 1999 and 2015 girls giving birth to children was “quite startling.” During that period, he said, girls gave birth to 15,231 children.

Reported abortions between 2011 to 2015 were 743.

For 2016, he said, the Ministry of Health has confirmed that 168 girls between the ages of 11 and 16 became pregnant, and 12 girls between 11 and 16 years. A total of 159 girls gave birth to children in 2016. “That is one year only,” he said.

He said that in the past no government has put these figures in the public domain.

He said he was giving information to the public as legislation should be informed by the position in Trinidad and Tobago.

Very often, he said, statistics were quoted from external sources rather than from the local jurisdiction. In the issue of the marriage contract, he said, “is the issue of the voice of the child, the protection of the child and what society must do to balance the interest between religious belief and the protection of its most vulnerable.” He said, “When we look to this kind of statistical information, what we see is that we have been turning a blind eye to an issue for a very long time.” During the consultations, he said, there were those who called for change and those who strongly opposed any change.