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| Africa Subsaharan |
| Malawi leader signs bill raising marriage age to 18 |
| 2015-04-16 |
| [AA.TR] Malawian President Peter Mutharika has signed into law a much-awaited bill that will make 18 the minimum age for marriage. "I am excited and happy that the president has assented to the bill," Patricia Kaliati, minister for gender, children, disability and social welfare, told The Anadolu Agency by phone on Wednesday. "I welcome this development; my ministry worked hard to have it [the bill] passed in parliament," said a jovial-sounding Kaliati. "It is a statement that we are committed to ending child marriages in Malawi," she asserted. The Marriage, Divorce and Family Relations Bill was ratified by parliament on Feb 12. The new legislation raises the minimum age for marriage from 14 to 18, effectively banning child marriages. "We will continue the fight to end early marriages so our girls can go to school," Kaliati told AA. "The new law will also help the courts hand out stiff penalties to offenders," she added. Malawi reportedly ranks eighth in the world in terms of child marriages, with some girls as young as nine being married off because their parents are too poor to care for them or pay for their education. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 They'll probably kill him anon, Besoeker. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2015-04-16 04:13 |
| #1 Hat tip to President Mutharika, bringing sanity and the hint of civilization to one of, if not the poorest nations in Africa. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2015-04-16 02:54 |