In 2017, countries took major steps to end child marriage

27, Dec 2017 | CJP Team

UN Women, a United Nations entity focused on gender equality and women’s empowerment, compiled a timeline of major events in gender equality in 2017. According to the timeline, in June and August, several nations, largely, in the Caribbean and Latin America “made historic strides to end child marriage”. In June, Trinidad and Tobago amended several marriage-related laws to make “underage marriage” illegal, the timeline notes, while Honduras altered its “national family code” to end the “legal exception” to minors’ marrying “through parental consent”. According to the timeline, Gautemala ended a “legal exception” that permitted judges to green-light marriages if they were deemed in the “‘best interest’ of the child,” and El Salvador closed “a loophole” that permitted young girls to marry in specific situations, like pregnancy. Separately, the timeline highlights Malawi, in Africa, for its removal of “a provision” that allowed those aged 15-18 to get married if they had parental consent.