Lawyers want new laws to ban child marriages

PETALING JAYA: Lawyers have called on the government to put an end to the practice of child marriages.

National Human Rights Society (Hakam) president Prof Datuk Dr Gurdial Singh Nijar said the move was imperative to push for new laws to ban and criminalise the act.

“It is not sufficient that laws allowing child marriages be repealed. There must be laws put in place to eliminate and prohibit child marriage as such early marriages are a violation of human rights and the Convention on the Rights of a Child especially when Malaysia is a party to the convention,” he said in a statement.

Meanwhile, lawyer Syahredzan Johan called for marriage to an underaged person to be made a criminal offence as at present there is no provision under the law.

He pointed to the the case of a 41-year-old man who had married an 11-year-old child recently, saying the Kelantan shariah court had fined Che Abdul Karim Chew Abdul for two shariah offences, which are marrying and practising polygamy without permission.

The fines imposed, however, were not because he had married an underage girl, Syahredzan said.

“This is why legislation is needed. At the federal level, it should be a penal offence to marry a child.

Syahredzan said the move to criminalise child marriages would be a challenge at the federal level, as the matter comes under the jurisdiction of states.

“Another (issue) would be that it is inconsistent with state shariah laws which say that the shariah court may give permission for a child to be married under the age of 16.

“There should be consistency throughout, and this is something the drafters of the potential legislation must address.”

Syahredzan also said there was no information on whether the marriage between the two had been registered and recognised in Kelantan.

“If this is the case, I believe welfare officers can step in to take away the child.”