Colombian Senate approves law prohibiting child marriage

All that is missing is the sanction of President Gustavo Petro for the project that prohibits child marriage to become law in Colombia, after having been approved by the Senate of the Republic on November 13.

The bill known as “They are girls, not wives” affects articles 116, 117 and 140 of the Civil Code. These prohibited marriage and early unions with minors under 14 years of age, but allowed them between 14 and 18 years of age when there was parental consent.

In that sense, with the approval of Congress, the Civil Code must now state that “only those over 18 years of age will have the capacity to marry.”

In his X account, Senator Mauricio Giraldo congratulated the approval of this law. “The ban on child marriage in our country is a great step in the protection of our children,” he said.

In that sense, he pointed out that “from Congress we have to continue working on initiatives that protect childhood and life, including that which is still in the womb.”

For its part, the citizen platform United for Life congratulated Parliament for approving this project. However, he called for this initiative not to also be used “to promote the culture of death, expressed in sexual rights focused on contraception or the diversion of resources in entities that have ideological interests in promoting abortion in our girls and young women. or other types of unions that would threaten the integrity and safety of our minors.”

“From the United for Life platform we will be vigilant to ensure that this Law preserves its intention,” he said in a statement.

According to figures cited by the Senatethe Superintendency of Notaries and Registry indicates that between 2020 and April 2023, 1,403 marriages with minors have been registered in Colombia.

The Senate reported that the text also “creates a public policy aimed at raising awareness and disseminating the effects, causes and consequences of contracting marriage or de facto marital unions with minors under 18 years of age.”

This policy must be designed by the government through the Ministry of Education in conjunction with the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare (ICBF) and the Ombudsman’s Office.

In October 2022, UNICEF located Colombia in 20th place “worldwide with respect to the number of girls married or in union before turning 15.”

“Compared to Latin America and the Caribbean, it ranks 11th in adolescents united before turning 18,” added UNICEF, which published his report “Analysis of the situation of child marriages and early unions in Colombia 2010-2020.”

According to the UN office, this occurs most frequently in “the departments with the greatest multidimensional poverty: Vichada, Amazonas, Chocó, La Guajira and Caquetá.”