REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, MADRID - Spain has raised the minimum age for marriage to 16 from what had been one of the lowest in the world at 14 as part of a wider reform to improve health and safety for children and adolescents.
The reform, announced by Spanish Health Minister Ana Mato on Friday, also raises the age for consensual sex from what was the lowest in Europe at 13. The new age will be decided by Parliament.
Fifty-five countries are signatories to the Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage, and Registration of Marriages, Wikipedia writes. The convention require them to specify a minimum marriage age by statute law‚ thus overriding customary, religious, and tribal laws. When the marriageable age under a law of a religious community is lower than that under the law of the land, the state law prevails. However, some religious communities do not accept the supremacy of state law in this respect, which leads to child marriage.
Ikuti Whatsapp Channel Republika