Fatimah: Roundtable discussion on minimum marriage age tomorrow

KUCHING: A roundtable discussion on minimum marriage age will be held in conjunction with the 13th International Conference on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology ( ICCAP) at Pullman Hotel here tomorrow.

Minister of Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah said the roundtable discussion would engage all stakeholders.

“We will have a roundtable discussion with all stakeholders on Aug 8 to convince all that the minimum marriage age is 18 years old,” she said when opening the ICCAP 2018 yesterday.

Fatimah said Sarawak registered a total of 273 child marriages last year alone.

Of the total, she said 129 tied the knot through ‘adat’ (custom), 112 through the Syariah law and 32 civil marriages.

Up to June this year, she said the total number of child marriages was 103.

Last month, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said the federal government would amend the Child Act 2016 and the Islamic Family Enactment to raise the minimum marriage age for women from 16 to 18.

She announced this in light of a recent case of an 11-year- old girl marrying a 41-year- old man.

The marriage was reportedly conducted in Thailand where the girl was taken as the third wife of the man, who hails from Kelantan.

Dr Wan Azizah, who is Minister of Women, Family and Community Development, said the amendment to the Act would ensure, among other things, the protection of the rights of children in terms of psychology, health and education.

She added that the amendment would also help address the problem of child marriages.