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West Nusa Tenggara tackles child marriage through public education
Statistics Indonesia’s National Socioeconomic Survey (Susenas) from 2018 to 2020 reported an underage marriage prevalence of 15 percent among girls between the ages of 10 and 16 years.
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The 1974 Marriage Law sets the marriageable age for women at 16 and for men at 19, even though the 2002 Child Protection Law defines a child as any individual “under the age of 18”. (Shutterstock/File)
R
em>Rutgers WPF Indonesia has been offering a media fellowship since July 2021 to 10 national and regional journalists, including the author, in a bid to educate the public about the importance of sexual and reproductive health and the rights of adolescents and young adults. The following is the second of five articles produced under the program.
Child marriage is still common in Indonesia, and has been a major source of violence, high infant mortality and health issues among young women.
The Council on Foreign Relations, a United States nonprofit think tank, ranked Indonesia seventh in the world for highest child marriage prevalence in 2018, meaning it was the second highest among ASEAN countries after Cambodia.
Statistics Indonesia’s National Socioeconomic Survey (Susenas) from 2018 to 2020 reported an underage marriage prevalence of 15 percent among girls between the ages of 10 and 16 years.
West Lombok regency in West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) province was among the regions highlighted due to its high prevalence of child marriages, which reached 57.5 percent in 2015. Concerted efforts by the local administration and social organizations gradually decreased the rate to 18.13 percent in 2020, with 462 recorded marriages involving children aged between 15 and 18 years, and 440 marriages at the age of 19.
The prevailing strategy to turn West Lombok into a child-friendly regency by 2024, however, remains a utopia because of several underlying reasons related to the region’s traditional customs and religious beliefs.
“In most cases, the marriages were arranged by their parents, either to prevent dishonor to the family or as a [faith-related] act as suggested by their religion teachers,” said Erni Suryana, secretary of the West Lombok Family Planning, Population, Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Office.
