After a long and exhausting 17-year campaign and eight failed attempts to push legislation through the house and senate, Colombia has finally outlawed child marriage.
According to The Guardian, a debate was held on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024, where legislators discussed the issue at hand. After the five hour debate, the bill was approved into law, with the motto “They are Girls, Not Wives,” backing their final decision.
The country of Colombia is now among twelve out of 33 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean to illegalize marriage under the age of 18. The ruling ended the 137-year-old loophole within the country’s civil code, which allowed the marriage of minors with the consent of the parental figures.
“I don’t think that anyone under the age of 18 should be marrying unless under a specific exception because they’re not fully developed and aren’t mature,” explains Jennifer Batt, a teacher at Stroudsburg High School. “Personally if I had married the man I was with at 18, it would have been bad.”
The rate of child marriage for girls is approximately three times higher than for boys, particularly among those living in poverty and in rural or Indigenous communities. There are roughly 4.5 million girls and women in Columbia who were married before they were 18 years old. Of these millions of girls, a million of them were married before age 15, according to Unicef.
For the past 17 years, a multitude of rights groups have been fighting for the bill to be passed in legislation but has continuously been shot down. The opposition has mainly revolved around the citing of tradition and parental rights with numerous representatives from over 100 Indigenous communities against the bill.
Companies such as the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), United Nations Children’s Funds (UNICEF), and United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) have been working hard at jointly implementing a Regional Program in Latin American and the Caribbean since 2017.
The concerns focus on the health and overall well-being of the children. By marrying at an early age, the girls are more likely to have an early pregnancy, which increases the potential for death in childbirth. Statistics taken by Unicef show that 51 percent of women in Columbia between the ages of 20 and 24, who were child brides, have an education level of none to primary school.
“I think it’s terrible. I think that when you’re that age, you shouldn’t have the decision to do that and sometimes it’s not your choice and no parent should be able to make that decision for them,” expresses Ryan Louis, ‘27. “When you’re married to an older person at a young age, it can be bad because they’re more mature.”
Columbia is not the first and won’t be the last country to go through this process and pass a law such as this one. Pew Research Center reports that 117 countries, including the United States, allow individuals under the age of 18 to wed.
The law regarding the marriage of children under the age of 18 can vary in the United States based on the state. The majority of states have their law set to state that the age of consent is 18, however, a person can marry at age 16 or 17 with parental consent. Certain states have more restrictions and required actions such as age gap restrictions, court orders, judge hearings, etc.
In the summer of 2024, the states of Washington, Virginia, and New Hampshire passed laws banning child marriage. These laws set the legal age of marriage to 18 without any exceptions; making it thirteen states that have now done so.
The state of Pennsylvania has their age of consent listed as 18 years old. Concerning the marriage of those under this age, Pennsylvania has deemed that minors are not allowed to be married regardless of parental consent.
These restrictions have been put into place by Governor Tom Wolf in May of 2020, according to an article written by CNN. Previous to this decision, a 16 or 17-year-old could marry with court approval and parental consent.
“Setting the minimum age to obtain a marriage license will help prevent child exploitation,” stated Governor Wolf in a report published by Fox43.
Pennsylvania Representative, Perry Warren had responded to a news release, discussing the main issues that arise with child marriage. For example, he stated that child marriages “increased the risk of domestic violence.” Other major concerns were that studies had shown that children who marry before the age of 18 often don’t have control over the decision and a child does not have the same legal rights as an adult.
Little by little, states in the U.S. and other countries have begun putting more restrictions on an acceptable marital age. The United States went from three states to thirteen with a ban on cold marriage within four years and with Columbia added to the list, which state or country will be next to follow suit in the illegalization of child marriage?