Save the Children calls for Congress to ban child marriage in Dominican Republic
A commission from Save the Children visited the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Radhames Camacho, to request the exclusion of child marriage from the Civil Code. Currently, the Civil Code sets the minimum age for boys to legally marry is 18 and for girls 15. Save the Children argues that this brings about multiple negative consequences, mainly for the girls.
Camacho expressed his support for the initiative. “That’s a fight that has to be fought and it is up to us to do so now that we have the responsibility to direct the work of the Chamber,” he said.
Opposition Senator Jose Ignacio Paliza (PRM-Puerto Plata) backed the request by Save the Children and said it would be a way for government policy to preserve the correct development of children in the country.
Save the Children says that around 50,000 persons have signed a petition online for the National Congress to ban child marriage in the Dominican Republic. The campaign has run on change.org and seeks to create an awareness of the harm of child marriage.
According to the Central Electoral Board (JCE), which manages the civil registry, in the past six years (2012-2017) there were 1,717 registered child marriages and in 98 % of the cases, the female spouse was a minor.
A recent study presented by Plan International alerted on forced child marriage in the Dominican Republic. The Enhogar 2014 poll revealed that 12.5% of Dominicans ages 20 to 49 were married or joined with spouses before they were 15 years old, and 37% before they were 18 years old. Local statistics also reveal that one of five teenage girls aged 15 to 19 years is married or living with a man 10 years older. Of the 10 children married with adults at the time of the poll, seven had been pregnant at the time of the marriage.
Source: DR1, Metrord
Apr 8, 2019
Category: DR News |