In the last sitting of the Children's Parliament, the students presented and debated on the Prohibition of Child Marriage Bill. But while that bill was part of a mock session, it's since taken flight and will hopefully make it to an actual Sitting of the House.
The NCFC along with the Women's Commission have spearheaded the initiative and have been hosting consultation sessions to end child marriages. This would see the age of legal marriage raised to 18.
Today at a consultation session hosted in Belize, we learned more.
Dolores Balderamos Garcia, Minister of Human Development
"As the law in Belize stands now, you can get married in Belize with parental consent, but we don't believe that parents should consent to somebody getting married at the age of 16. We really feel that since marriage is a contract, it should be for 18 year olds, the minimum age should be 18. That's what the campaign is about."
"And basically it is looking at our society norms of the past and saying that not because we did something that way in the past, like allowing a 14 year old or a 15 year old to marry, should we do that now because society is moving more in the direction of the protection of children and young people."
"Now I can mention that the age of consent for sexual activity is 16. We don't believe that we should change that because it would be impossible to police, however, if we send the signal that we don't believe anybody under 18 should be getting married then that would be the law of the land and marriage certificate of someone under 18 will not be accepted at the registry and will not be accepted at the vital statistics unit."
Thea Garcia Ramirez, Chairperson, The Women's Commission
"Children are not allowed to vote, they're not allowed to buy cigarettes, they're not allowed to drink. I don't know why we're allowing them to get married, they're not prepared to enter into a contract as Minister Dolores Balderamos Garcia was saying this morning, it's a legal contract. Adults have a hard enough time as it is staying married once they're married. I don't know why expect children to understand the consequences of a lifelong contract at the age of 15/16, some as young as 13 are being forced or coerced into having a very committed relationship of cohabitation so it is really damaging to a person's welfare."
Shakira Sutherland, Executive Director, NCFC
"It's a mindset, it's a cultural thing, it's a social thing as well so what we try to do, we start off with the awareness and the educational aspect of it and so when you share that data, that information, children know that there is a lot of potential ahead for them and then allowing them to expand more on their talent and potential. That's the first area that we try to target, thereafter we do want to ensure that we do that amendment change in the marriage act so it's a process and we are very hopeful that we will have that change and that amendment to the act."
The NCFC and the Women's Commission are working in partnership with the Office of the Special Envoy, and the Ministry of Human Development.
