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Rates of marriage in girls are about three times higher than for boys, with
those in poverty and rural and Indigenous communities most affected. Photograph:
Raúl Arboleda/AFP/Getty Images
View image in fullscreen
Rates of marriage in girls are about three times higher than for boys, with
those in poverty and rural and Indigenous communities most affected. Photograph:
Raúl Arboleda/AFP/Getty Images
Child marriage



COLOMBIA OUTLAWS CHILD MARRIAGE AFTER 17-YEAR CAMPAIGN

Country closes 137-year legal loophole, becoming one of 12 in Latin America and
the Caribbean to entirely ban marriage for minors

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About this content
Luke Taylor in Bogotá
Thu 14 Nov 2024 05.05 EST
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Colombian lawmakers have approved a bill to eradicate child marriage in the
South American country after 17 years of campaigning by advocacy groups and
eight failed attempts to push legislation through the house and senate.

After five hours of heated, drawn-out debate on Wednesday evening, lawmakers
approved the proposed legislation, dubbed They are Girls, Not Wives, which
prohibits the marriage of anyone under the age of 18.



“We do not want to continue seeing the systematic violence and sexual
exploitation of children. Colombia is making history because, for the first
time, we have managed to ban child marriage after trying eight times,” said
Jennifer Pedraza, congresswoman for the Dignity and Commitment Party and
co-author of the bill, after the vote. “So it is a great message, not only for
Colombia in terms of respect for the rights of boys and girls, but also for the
world. Colombian childhood is important, we have to protect it and we have to
care for it.



“So we are very happy that Colombia has just left the shameful list of countries
that allow childhood marriage.”

Colombia is now one of 12 countries out of the 33 in Latin America and the
Caribbean to have entirely banned marriage under the age of 18, following
Honduras, Puerto Rico, Mexico and the Dominican Republic.

It ends a 137-year-old loophole in the country’s civil code which allowed
under-18s to marry with parental consent. Minors were also deemed to have
entered an informal marital union when they cohabited for two years.

There are 4.5 million girls and women in Colombia who married before 18 – about
one in four. Of these, a million were married before they were 15, according to
Unicef.

Sandra Ramirez, adviser in Latin America for the advocacy group Equality Now,
said: “Eliminating these exceptions aligns Colombian law with international
standards and guarantees the full protection of the rights of girls and
adolescents.”

Rates of childhood marriage in girls are about three times higher than for boys,
with children living in poverty and rural or Indigenous communities particularly
affected.

Draft Iraqi law allowing 9-year-olds to marry would ‘legalise child rape’, say
activists
Read more


Despite decades of economic and social development, the prevalence of child
marriage had barely budged due to a deeply ingrained machista [male chauvanist]
culture, decades of internal conflict and narcoculture, says Marta Royo,
executive director of Profamilia, a non-profit organistation promoting
reproductive health services.

“We live in an extremely patriarchal society where there is a deep division
between what a man wants and a girl wants,” Royo said. “In many areas we have a
role in life and that role is simply to be mothers, it doesn’t matter at how
early an age. It is totally normalised to make girls of 12, 13, 14 not just into
wives, but into mothers.”

Rights groups have campaigned to end the practice for 17 years but bills were
shot down, with opposition citing tradition and parental rights, and many
representatives of the country’s more than 100 Indigenous communities opposed to
the bill.

Advocacy groups said that Colombia was legally obliged to wipe out the practice
as it is a signatory of international conventions on violence against women.
They also pointed out that marriages are often between girls in poverty and an
older partner with economic power.

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“A lot of the time these girls have no say on entering a relationship and then
when they enter it they have even less. Their opinions don’t count, their dreams
don’t count and they are viewed as objects,” Royo said.

Studies have long shown child marriage is strongly linked to poverty and
oppressive relationships.

Children who marry are more likely to have an early pregnancy and die in
childbirth, to drop out of school and become victims of domestic violence.

Senator María José Pizarro said: “These girls abandon everything. Their studies,
their life project and their possibility to construct a life for them and their
children ends completely.”

The bill also stipulated that policies, including education, must be introduced
to address the root causes of child marriage.

“This is a historic moment but a lot of challenges remain ahead,” Ramirez said.
“Public policy now will be crucial, as a change in legislation means little
without effective implementation and ensuring that the voices of girls and
adolescents are at the centre.”

Explore more on these topics
 * Child marriage
 * Women
 * Colombia
 * Americas
 * Women's rights and gender equality
 * news

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