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UNICEF praises pro-women ulema recommendation against child marriage
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Defending rights: Religious Affairs Minister Lukman Hakim Saifuddin makes a speech on the roles of women clerics in the first Indonesian Women’s Ulema Congress in Cirebon, West Java, on April 27. (JP/Nurul Fitri Ramadhani)
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NICEF has welcomed a recommendation by the Indonesian Women’s Ulema Congress to end child marriage and to raise the legal marriage age for girls from 16 to 18.
The congress of respected female Islamic clerics urged for the amendment of the 1974 Marriage Law, which allows girls to marry at 16.
The recommendation calls upon parents, educators, society and the government to share responsibility to end the practice of child marriage because it limits the education, health, income opportunities and safety of adolescent girls. Preventing girls from getting married before adulthood should therefore be “mandatory.”
The Marriage Law sets a minimum age for marriage of 21 years but with the parents’ consent, girls can marry at 16.
Religious Affairs Minister Lukman Hakim Sayfuddin said he would present the recommendation to the government.
“This is a landmark moment in the efforts to end child marriage in Indonesia, where on average more than 3,500 girls are married every day,” UNICEF Indonesia representative Gunilla Olsson said in a statement.
According to UNICEF, one in four marriages involves a child bride. According to Central Statistics Agency (BPS) data, 1,348,886 girls married before the age of 18 in 2012.
(Read also: Female ulema issues fatwa obliging Muslims to fight early marriage)
These occurrences were reinforced by the 1974 Marriage Law, which contradicts the 2002 Child Protection Law, which prohibits marriage under the age of 18.
“Support from religious leaders are fundamental to achieving the targets. UNICEF welcomes the invitation to follow-up discussion on the ruling,” Olsson said. (dis)
