Senate passes child marriage Bill

However, Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi said the lack of Opposition support for the Bill had led him to seek its approval by a simple majority of votes, and not the special majority that would have protected it from being challenged as being inconsistent with the personal rights listed in the TT Constitution. He said while the Government felt confident the Bill could win a special majority in the Senate, such confidence did not pertain in the House of Representatives where Opposition MPs could withhold their votes.

Al-Rawi admitted that the passage without a special majority left the Bill vulnerable to being challenged in the law courts by anyone as lacking the parliamentary backing required of a Bill that is inconsistent with the TT Constitution.

All Government senators voted for the Bill, while abstentions came from the four Opposition senators present — Wade Mark, Khadijah Ameen, Gerard Ramdeen and Wayne Sturge — plus Independent Senator Dhanyshar Mahabir.

Al-Rawi in his wind-up lamented that of 54 child marriages last year, some involved underage girls marrying males twice or three times their age, “in circumstances of paedophilia.” He said he’d mulled an exception for 16-year-olds to seek judicial consent to marry, but that in reality they’d be unlikely to access any such ruling before reaching 18 years old. TT could not provide such couples with a timely access to law courts or social services, he said.

Noting Tanzania’s abolition of child marriages, the AG said, “It is important for us to realise where we are as a people.” Likewise noting that India also banned child marriage by raising the ages to 18 years old (females) and 21 years old (males) without exception, he asked why some people in TT were harking to India’s past practices.

He also said that in TT there is no single position being advocated by any particular religion, but various views. “As a country we must recognise who we are and be careful how we compare ourselves.” Al-Rawi said that as a nation, TT must now draw a line in the sand.