KUCHING: Sarawak Women for Women (SWWS) is strongly against child marriage and the country should ban those under the age of 18 from getting married as to send a clear message to the society.
Its president Dr Angie Garet said this was in keeping with international human rights such as Child Rights Coalition Malaysia (CRCM) and United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, which defined a child marriage as any marriage where at least one of the parties is below the age of 18.
She said Malaysia, including Sarawak must ban child marriage, as it stops children from reaching their potential, including early drop-out from education, taking on role of parents when still children themselves.
Besides, early pregnancy is dangerous for physical health of teenagers and also can affect mental health, she told New Sarawak Tribune recently.
“Currently, it is legal for children below 16 years old to get marry through various mechanisms – but we view it (child marriage) as child sexual abuse and it has to be illegal.”
“If having sex with an underage is statuary rape so why is it allowed if they are married?” she questioned.
Last month, the Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Rina Mohd Harun in a reply to Parliament said it had no plans to ban child marriage while being committed to preventing such unions.
She said there was a need to manage the issue through education, advocacy, strengthening the family institution and socioeconomic support in the community, aside from amending legal provisions.
Angie said although the SWWS agreed that education and raising awareness were important, it would be a very slow process and easily lose momentum.
For instance, she said, to increase the minimum marriage age under customary marriage, every ethnic group has to discuss it at their annual general meeting (AGM).
But, only few are doing so despite many saying they agree to set a minimum where none has been stated.
According to the SWWS president, children continued to get married for a variety of reasons, including poverty and covering-up rape incidents.
“We must tackle poverty promptly and holistically as it is one of the key causes of child marriage, while children who marry young are more likely to remain in poverty as education was sacrificed,” she said.
“Furthermore, no one should have to marry their rapist,” she stressed.
In Sarawak, she said, teenagers were getting pregnant, which shows that the society as well as the community need to be more prepared to talk about reproductive health with the teenagers as well as to listen to the challenges they face these days.
“We need to be kinder to unwed pregnant teenage girls, rather than trapping them in a marriage they may not be ready for – this can lead to early divorce or abuse of spouse or child for some,” she explained.
Angie said the government has to understand that child marriage was a very complex and multi-sectorial issue.
“Having education in place may just not be enough as best if we do both legislate and educate,” she added.
SWWS, she said, for more than three decades, has been creating and adapting modules for awareness programmes such as ‘Healthy Relationships’ for teens aged between 12 and 17 years old as a programme towards prevention of early marriage.
SWWS has been invited to provide workshops on such topics through Sarawak Social Development Randau Programme organised by the Social Welfare Council.
“We have been giving workshops and speaking to children and teens in rural areas as well as at schools and faith-based schools,” she said.
A total of 1,638 underage individuals got married in Sarawak from 2017 to 2020, where 500 of them were recorded as marrying underage according to Syariah or Islamic law. Meanwhile, 1,138 individuals were recorded marrying underage customarily (customary child marriage).
Last month, the Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Rina Mohd Harun in a reply to Parliament said it had no plans to ban child marriage while being committed to preventing such unions.
She said there was a need to manage the issue through education, advocacy, strengthening the family institution and socioeconomic support in the community, aside from amending legal provisions
