Pakistan lawmaker battles to raise punishment for child marriage
March 29, 2014 - A bill introduced in Pakistan's National Assembly to increase the
punishment for guardians, clerics and spouses involved in child marriages should be
supported by religious leaders, the legislator behind the move said on Wednesday.
"I've seen this injustice in my constituency and around the country in every single
province," legislator Marvi Memon told Reuters. "It's time that we stand up for our
women." Pakistan's conservative religious parties strongly opposed the bill tabled
by Memon on Tuesday, and some Muslim clerics want the penalties scrapped altogether.
Currently, women can legally marry at 16 in Pakistan and men at 18. But many
marry much younger, and the current penalty for anyone involved in a child marriage
is a $10 fine, possibly accompanied by up to a month's imprisonment. Memon has proposed
that the fine should be increased to $1,000 and the possible jail sentence to two
years. The bill is currently being reviewed. Earlier this month Pakistan's Council
of Islamic Ideology issued a statement criticizing current laws forbidding child
marriage.
One third of women around the world are married before they turn
18, according to the Washington D.C.-based International Center for Research on Women.
The tradition of child marriage is most prevalent in South Asia. Pregnancy is the
leading cause of death for girls between 15 and 19, the group said. There are no reliable
statistics on the number of child marriages in Pakistan. Few cases are reported to
the police. The government does not track the issue. (Source: Reuters)