That’s enough talk about child marriage

Research shows that child marriage was, in the past, a feature of all religions.

Thankfully, most countries now see the error of these doctrines and cultural practices and, prompted by international human rights bodies, Parliaments are moving to correct the wrongs done to children. Child marriage is, consequently, now becoming an outlawed practice.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child mandates that we act in the best interests of all children at all times, so our laws must protect all our children.

In one case of child marriage I encountered, the Common Entrance teacher had made the child pregnant, but she assured me that he had been a wonderful husband.

But she had lost her childhood, I thought.

In another case, the young girl had been forced to marry her stepbrother who had raped her, as his lawyer had said that if he married her, the police would have to drop the case.

At her mother’s insistence, she married him and became a domestic violence victim.

In yet another case, the almost middle-aged woman lived with her very aged husband and her middle-aged lover in the same household and had two sets of children. She said her parents had married her off when she was 12 years old. Why do we keep trying to solve one problem by creating a bigger one? During the last few months, child marriage, not crime, was the topic that generated the most letters to the press, editorials and social media debate.

Enough has been said. It is time for action.

There is absolutely nothing that a joint select committee can add to this protracted public debate.

In ending, I quote from the judgment of the High Court of Pakistan in the Mehmood case, which dealt with forced marriage. The judge said: “Unfortunately, in our practical lives we are influenced by a host of other prejudices, bequeathed by history, tradition and feudalism. Male chauvinism, feudal bias and compulsions of a conceited ego should not be confused with Islamic values.”

Hazel Thomson-Ahye
Child rights advocate