Malawi’s Child Marriages Bill Signed into Law ‘No More Child Marriage Until 18yrs’

Malawi’s President, Peter Mutharika, has signed the Marriage and Family Relations Bill into law after a period of uncertainty since February, when the country’s parliament ratified the Marriage, Divorce and Family Relations Bill. The new legislation raises the minimum age for marriage from 14 to 18, effectively banning child marriages. This development, which follows more than fifteen years of undaunted advocacy, marks a huge step forward in the fight to end the insidious practice in the country.
Over the past few years, Hivos in Southern Africa has been advocating for a legislative framework to stem the problem of child marriages in Malawi. Hivos has supported numerous community and national initiatives and created spaces and platforms to raise awareness about the negative effects of child marriages. These took the form of radio and community dialogues, national and regional symposiums and lobbying parliamentarians.
Since the Bill was passed early this year, Hivos in collaboration with like-minded organisations has been working with the media for presidential assent to the bill.
“The enactment of the bill into law is a step in the right direction towards ending child marriages. Inasmuch as we have the Act now, we still need to work on amending the constitution to ensure alignment,” said Cynthia Ngwalo, Hivos Southern Africa’s Child Marriages Programme Coordinator.

Posted by Editor on April 23, 2015. Filed under AFRICA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry