AG: Students in child marriage

Al Rawi made this disclosure as he opened debate on the Marriage Bill 2016 in the House of Representatives.

Stating the aim of the legislation is,” centred upon finding the best fit for an established protection for the children in our society,” Al Rawi said there were 3,478 child marriages in TT from 1996 to 2016. Al Rawi said this included 1,156 civil marriages, 526 Muslim marriages and 1,796 Hindu marriages. Drilling down into these figures, the AG said a “very startling phenomenon” was found when attention was paid to the occupation of the husband in child marriages that took place over the last decade.

As he listed these occupations, Al Rawi remarked, “They ring almost true for every child marriage.” The AG cited a case where a 13-yearold married a male with, “student as occupation.” He then referred to a case in 2008 of a marriage between a 12-year-old girl and, “a well employed fast food attendant.” Al Rawi added, “The fact is, in TT, in 2016 we have had child marriages.” He said there were 53 child marriages last year, which saw the girls between the ages of 14 and 16 years being married.

Responding to a question from Barataria/San Juan MP Dr Fuad Khan, Al Rawi said these marriages cut across several religions.

“This is not a Hindu, a Muslim phenomenon at all. The statistical information shows that Christians are equally in the same category,” he declared. Saying it was unfortunate that some persons were trying to create the impression that child marriages were restricted to Hinduism and Islam, Al Rawi said that argument, “must be entirely rejected.

In terms of gender distribution, Al Rawi said, “We found that of the 3,478 marriages, 3,404 of those were for girls and only 74 of them were men. That shows a gender disparity of 97.85 percent female and 2.1566 percent male.” Stressing that one must distinguish the argument of religious belief versus religious convention, Al Rawi said it was not correct to assume that child marriages was a solution to prevent teenage pregnancies.

The AG said available data shows that 173 abortions took place last year, involving girls between the ages of 11 and 16. However he said that information, “does not include the private abortions, the backyard abortions, the neighbour abortions.” Noting a democracy and not a theocracy exists in TT, Al Rawi said the Constitution shows that certain rights can be abrogated by virtue of legislation being passed with a special majority. He explained this is done on the basis that it is reasonable in a society like TT, “that accepts democratic principles.” Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh appealed to Opposition MPs not to abstain when it was time to vote on the bill. Saying no MP could be ambivalent to 18 years being legal age for marriage, Deyalsingh said there was nothing wrong with men being employed in the occupations listed by Al-Rawi. However he asked what kind of future would they be offering to a girl under 18 years. He circulated a newspaper article to MPs urging them not to take the position adopted by a person named “D Parsuram Maharaj” regarding child marriages. Deyalsingh hoped this person was never a parliamentarian. The article dated November 10, 2011, alleged that D Parsuram Maharaj was former transport minister Devant Maharaj.

Minister of State in the Office of the Prime Minister Ayanna Webster- Roy said as the mother of three children, one of them an 11-yearold girl, the thought of an adult man being with her 11-year old, made her skin crawl. Recalling she got married when she was 22 years old, Webster-Roy said girls and boys must be allowed to have their childhood. She told Government and Opposition MPs that now was the time, “to take a bold step and do what is right.” She declared, “The time for affirmative action is now.”