Campaign begins to end underage children’s marriage; Minister rules out change to age of sexual consent

Published by BBNTEAM at August 7, 2024

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Posted: Wednesday, August 7, 2024. 2:34 pm CST.

By Aaron Humes: The National Commission for Families and Children (NCFC), National Women’s Commission (NWC), and the Special Envoy for the Development of Families and Children today hosted a consultation session, regarding proposed amendments to the Marriage Act.

This session focused on the crucial topic of raising the age of consent to marry from 16 years to 18 years of age.

Minister of Human Development Dolores Balderamos-Garcia said young people deserve every opportunity to set the course of their lives in relation to marriage.

But she said it would be difficult to “police” a change in the age of legal consent to sexual intercourse, which is also 16 (a child being defined as anyone under the age of 18).

She thus ruled out any change by Government to this aspect of the legislation.

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