Ministry of Justice Saudi Arabia has prohibited marriage of persons under 18 years while setting 18 years as the minimum age for marriage for both sexes. Minister of Justice and Chairman of the Supreme Judicial Council Sheikh Dr. Walid Al-Samaani issued a circular to all courts stressing the banning of marriage for persons under 18 years. All such requests are to be referred to the specialized court to complete the formalities in line with the Child Protection Law and while implementing the established regulations. Al-Samaani’s directives are based on paragraph (16/3) of the executive regulations of the Child Protection Law, which says “before conducting marriage contracts one has to make sure that marrying a person under the age of 18 will not harm him or her and achieve their best interests, male or female.”
Similarly, Female clerics (Sister in Islam) in 2017 issued an unprecedented fatwa against child marriage in Indonesia in a bid to stop young girls becoming brides in the world’s most populous Muslim country.
Pakistan’s commitment to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 on achieving gender equality includes ending harmful practices such as child and forced marriage under Target 5.3. Pakistan is also a state party to the legally binding Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which defines a child as anyone under the age of 18 and Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Yet, for several years, Pakistan has been ranked the second lowest country on the Global Gender Gap Index out of a 149, only better than war-ravaged Yemen.
The press release issued by Provincial Alliance to End, Early Child and Forced Marriages indicates that with the legal age of marriage for girls being 16 except in Sindh where it is 18, Pakistan has the sixth highest number of absolute child brides in the world (1.9 million). Child marriage prevalence rates in Pakistan remain alarmingly high; more than 21 percent of girls in Pakistan are married before 18 and 3 percent before they are 15 years old (UNICEF state of the children report 2017). Across provinces, prevalence is reported to be highest in Sindh (33%), followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (29%), Baluchistan (22%), and Punjab (20%). It is estimated that by ending child and early age marriage the country could potentially save 77 million dollars by 2030 or lead to a 6229 million dollar rise in earnings and productivity. It would also lead to reduction of multi-dimensional poverty level – number 1 priority for the government.
Qamar Naseem Coordinator of the Provincial Alliance to End Child Marriages and Co-chair of the National Action Coordination Group (NACG) said, “Government of Pakistan should develop well-resourced national and provincial action plans to end child marriage, invest in programs that empower girls, develop programs that equip girls with skills and knowledge to determine their own future”.
He further demanded that the government must establish laws and policies that set 18 as the minimum age for marriage remove legal loopholes – related to parental consent or customary laws and protect women and girls’ rights”. He further said that prohibition of child marriages in Saudi Arabia provides an opportunity to the provincial governments in KP to pass the legislation prohibiting child marriages, which awaits the approval of the cabinet before the legislation could be introduced into the Assembly. The provincial government must ACT NOW, as they have no excuse left.
Taimur Kamal Coordinator of Pakhtunkhwa Civil Society Network Said” To end child marriages government and civil society must join hands to provide adequate health, education, justice and other services, to provide girls and their families with alternatives child marriage and implement support programs that empower girls at risk or who are currently in child marriages.
Sana Ahmad Provincial Coordinator of the Ujala Network said “The issue of child marriages in Pakistan is more cultural than religious. After all, any law bears footprints of culture and cannot completely get rid of cultural influences. While Islamic laws are very progressive, culture in is still feudal or semi-feudal. Religion should prevail over culture and not culture over religion. That is why most Islamic countries have now prescribed 18 as the age of marriage and have made child marriage illegal.
Mufti Jamil a well know religious leader said, “There is nothing Islamic about child marriages; if anything it is un-Islamic. It is well-known that marriage is a contract in Islam and the Quran calls it a ‘strong covenant’ (mithaqan ghaliza) (4:21). It does not require a lot of argument to conclude that such a covenant cannot be entered into by children of the age of eight, that too a strong contract. A child does not even understand what a covenant is.
