Human Rights Watch (HRW) today said the Bangladeshi Government should set 18 as the minimum age for marriage to comply with international prohibitions against child marriage as it claimed that the proposed revisions would reverse the stated government aims to reduce child marriage.
Media reports indicate that the Prime Minister's Cabinet is considering a revision to the law to make 16 the minimum age of marriage for girls. The minimum age for men would be 18.
"Setting the age of marriage for girls in Bangladesh at 16 would be a terrible step in the wrong direction," said Liesl Gerntholtz, Women's Rights Director at Human Rights Watch.
"The rate of child marriage in Bangladesh is already off the charts. The new law should set the minimum age of marriage at 18 for both women and men and put the best interests of children at the center of all of its provisions," Gerntholtz added.
Gerntholtz further said Bangladesh should take the opportunity to learn from countries around the world that have successfully tackled child marriage.
"The Bangladeshi Government should pass a new Child Marriage Restraint Act that empowers girls to delay marriage, resist unwanted marriage, and be recognized in society for their value as individuals, not just as brides," Gerntholtz added.
At the July 2014 Girl Summit in London, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina pledged to take steps to reduce and ultimately end the child marriage in Bangladesh. She committed, by 2021, to end marriage for girls under age 15 and reduce by more than one-third the number of girls between ages 15 and 18 who marry.
Bangladesh pledged to end all child marriage by 2041. The government also committed to develop a national plan of action on child marriage before 2015, and take other steps to change social norms and engage civil society in the fight against child marriage.
