The Colombian Congress has voted in favor of new laws that will ban child marriage. Currently, the country allows marriage from the age of 14 with parental consent. Supporters of the changes emphasize that this is a historic decision for the country.
Congress Colombia on Wednesday evening, he agreed to change the law under which minors will no longer be able to marry. Currently, under the Civil Code, people over 14 years of age can get married with their parents' consent.
Child marriage prohibited
The new law stipulates that the minimum age for marriage will be 18. It also assumes the protection of rights and development opportunities for minors. For the regulations to become law, they must be signed by President Gustavo Petro. Before the vote, as “The Guardian” writes, there was a five-hour heated debate on the project.
– We do not want to continue to observe systematic violence and sexual abuse of children. Colombia is making history, said Congress member Jennifer Pedraza from the Dignidad y Compromiso party and co-author of the bill. – This is great news, not only for Colombia, in terms of respect for the rights of boys and girls, but also for the world. Childhood is important, we must protect and care for it, she added.
Child marriage in Colombia and around the world
Supporters of a ban on child marriage have been lobbying on this issue for 17 years, but the previous eight attempts to pass the changes failed on the legislative path. The current proposal appeared in 2023, accompanied by the slogan: “they are girls, not wives.” It was emphasized that the aim of the initiative was to prevent forced marriages, especially of young girls, their exposure to violence and the need to give up education.
According to UNICEF, there are currently 4.5 million girls and women in Colombia who got married before the age of 18, of which one million before the age of 15. The Guardian writes that Colombia will now be one of 12 countries out of 33 in the Latin America and Caribbean region that bans child marriage.
UNICEF emphasizes that the problem of child marriage is widespread in the world and affects approximately 12 million girls every year. However, the number of such marriages is falling – ten years ago, every fourth woman aged 20-24 got married when she was a child, and now it concerns every fifth woman.
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