Law is not enough, it must be used to achieve results

THE Cabinet on Thursday approved the draft of the ‘Child Marriage Prevention Act 2016’ fixing minimum age of marriage for girls at 18 with the provision for marriage at a lower age in special situation. We must say it is a good move to eliminate abuse of young girls and violence against them. The draft has however left scope for marriage of girls below 18 with clearance from court and with parents consent. We believe the new bill once passed into law will go a long way to save young girls from forced marriage against their will and make sure that when they are married they are matured enough to keep healthy and handle life safely.

But much of the new law will depend on effective enforcement of the law and frankly speaking new law in not anyway needed. What is needed is effective implementation of existing laws against stalkers for rape and other sexual abuses and more awareness for social safety. The impunity that unruly elements are enjoying under the shelter of the ruling party is openly challenging safety of young girls; which is forcing parents to get them early married. So instead of new law to eliminate early marriage we need making poor and helpless parents of girls sure of the safety of their daughters in rural areas. Sexual abuse is rampant in the countryside. Similarly poverty is also forcing many to early marriage.

Meanwhile, feminine activists concerns that allowing marriages in special cases may give the loophole to misuse the law needs to be properly addressed. In our view permission from court to such marriages may work as a good safeguard. In this situation representatives of local bodies and human rights bodies may make sure that nobody is misusing the facility with fake documents and producing a misleading case.

We must say a change in our social attitude is essential to eliminate early marriage. Our younger people must learn to respect our social values and safety of young girls instead of harming them. Parents must be sure that their daughters are safe in the outdoor going to schools and colleges, nobody wants to see any disgrace. The development of the socio-economic condition of our poor segment of society is also essential to eliminate early marriage.

It is a good sign that higher incidence of child marriage has declined to 43 percent in Bangladesh in 2015 from 62.3 percent two decades ago. But girls getting married between 15 and 18 is not decreasing that much. This is the critical area where policy makers must focus now and it needs more social awareness programs along with new legislation and its effective implementation.