Raihanatul Jannat
Childhood is much more than just a passage between birth and adulthood, and therefore, irrespective of different cultural standards, United Nations Generals Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of Children in 1989 which specifies the universally accepted set of standards concerning children. In 2002, 190 world leaders convened at the UN General Assembly Special Sessions on Children upon realisation that progress on child development needed to be accelerated globally.
However, despite several staunch international regulatory frameworks, societies are rife with horrendous examples where a child’s rights has been seriously undermined. One of the gravest violations occurs when a child is married off at an early age. Child marriage may be a reality for both genders but the dilemma affects girls disproportionately.
An early marriage will lock the girl into a vicious cycle of child-bearing and burdensome social responsibilities while diminishing her potentials for a better future that she could have chosen for herself.
According to the Unicef report published in 2013, more than 700 million women worldwide had been victims of child marriage and up to 250 million entered into the union when they were under 15 years of age. In Bangladesh, due to the practice of orthodox traditions in a patriarchal society, it is normal for girls to be married off at a very early age. In rural areas, while child marriage is extremely prevalent, lives of girls are seen as the opportunity cost for ensuring boys’ education and further livelihood.
As per the report, Bangladesh has the second highest number of child marriages globally and about 39% of those marriages took place with girls under the age of 15. Amongst other negative factors such as violence, curtailed independence and deteriorated mental health, child marriage also contributes towards high number of deaths – both maternal and neonatal.
Bangladesh introduced the Child Marriage Restraint Act in 1929. There were some subsequent amendments provided in 1961 and 1984. Under the law, it was illegal to marry off girls who were under the age of 18. In contrast, Muslim law laid down several provisions regarding the age of marriage and it directly conflicted with the statutory framework.
However, the legislation generally failed to restraint or curb child marriage statistics. Even though the Act prima facie offered protection against child marriage, realistically efficiency crisis existed. The local authorities were not keen on wading against society’s traditional opinions and enforcing the legal mechanisms.
In the new century, this obsolescent law seemed to serve no purpose at all, as the perpetrators were only penalised with either a simple imprisonment for a month, or a fine of Tk1,000, or both. The Act also failed to address post-marriage issues, namely marital rape and cancellation of the marriage.
In order to combat the encroaching condition and sync in with the recent times, government drafted a new Child Marriage Restraint Act in 2014. It was presented to the Cabinet in September and received approval. Once the law is enacted, perpetrators will be penalised with a maximum of two years of imprisonment and fined up to Tk50,000. The draft Act also provide that any violations of the legislation will entail a minimum sentence of six months’ imprisonment or a fine of Tk10,000, or both. It is commendable that such strict punishments will act as a deterrent and enforce the law against child marriage.
However, the draft Act still consists of some serious flaws which disrupts progress towards a uniform legal instrument. The draft Act is applicable to every community in Bangladesh but a discretionary power provided to the Nikaah registrar indicates special connotations to Muslim personal laws. Moreover, as per the discretionary power, the Nikaah registrar can exercise personal belief and reasonable logic to consider whether a child marriage occurred in regards of cancellations. This will allow potential floodgates of malpractice and abuse of power.
The Act also mentions that it carries a limitation period of one year only. A restriction on taking cognisance of the offence is unnecessary as unreported victims of child marriage may not develop the necessary freedom or standing to report violation of their personal rights within a year’s time.
Under the draft Act, it is also provided that the marriage may be cancelled in cases of “forceful rape.” This undermines the serious issue of marital rape and initiates injustice to victims within a child marriage who may consent to consummation under coercion or social pressure, and those instances will not be classed as “forceful.” The draft Act also fails to provide a provision whereby victims could automatically annul their marriage once they attain adulthood. Under the new Act, however, the most concerning factor seems to be the cabinet’s decision to lower the minimum age of marriage from 18 to 16 for girls.
This proposed revision will worsen the situation even further. It will halt any progress towards women empowerment and officially uphold child marriage as a social norm. If such a provision is allowed in the new law, it will also fall foul of the Convention on the Rights of Children, which Bangladesh ratified in 1999. Therefore, it is advisable that the government heeds warnings from civil society organisations and development partners, and removes the provision from the new law in order to ensure a proper end to child marriage and a better future for girls.
The writer is a Barrister from the Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn.
- See more at:
http://www.dhakatribune.com/juris/2015/feb/05/putting-end-child-marriage#sthash.jEkPW3bY.dpuf
