Child Marriage Act: Spl provision may prove disastrous

The provision of Child Marriage Restraint Act 2017 allowing underage marriage in “special circumstances” may give rise to an increase in child marriages in the country, said National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Chairman Kazi Reazul Hoque yesterday.

The government must formulate strict rules to prevent misuse of the section-19 of the law to protect child rights. If rules fail to discourage child marriages, the act has to be amended by omitting the special provision, the NHRC chief said.  

Tap here to add The Daily Star as a trusted source

He was speaking at a conference on “Regional Action Plan to Combat Child Marriage” jointly organised by NHRC and National Action and Coordinating Group (NACG) of South Asia Initiative to End Violence Against Children (SAIEVAC) at Cirdap auditorium in the capital.

“We submitted a draft copy of the act to the government after discussions with civil society representatives. There were many good sections and most of them were included in the act, but the government added section-19 later on,” Kazi Reazul said.

Section-19 discussed widely in recent times has more chances to be misused as several such incidents have already taken place in different parts of the country, he told journalists after attending the conference.

“Whatever the government's purpose was, there will be a disaster if it is misused.”

On February 27, the government passed the act in parliament keeping the provision that allows parents or guardians to marry off girls or boys before they reach the minimum marriageable age, 18 and 21, with permission from court. 

Rights groups at home and abroad have all along opposed the special provision that does not even specify minimum age for underage marriages. 

Speaking as the chief guest at the conference, the NHRC chairman stressed the need for creating awareness among people and girls' raising voice against child marriages.

SAIEVAC Director General Rinchen Chophel said Bangladesh was doing well in fighting against child marriages as the country already formed an act, although it had a controversial segment.

AKM Masud Ali, chair of NACG; Moinul Kabir, joint secretary of Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs Division; Mashuk Miah, additional secretary of the women and children affairs ministry, and Purna Shrestha, senior legal adviser (Asia) of Center for Reproductive Rights, also spoke at the programme.