Marriage-age proposal after talks with stakeholders

The health and family welfare minister says they will send a recommendation to the Cabinet on the issue of lowering the age of marriage after discussing with all stakeholders.

Discussions will be held with the civil society representatives, development partners and all stakeholders on the issue, Mohammed Nasim said on Tuesday at the release of the Bangladesh Urban Health Survey 2013 report.

He made the comment during his speech in reply to a question from the audience.

The government recently triggered a debate on the issue of lowering the age of marriage after the cabinet decided to discuss it following a proposal from the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs.

State Minister for Health and Family Welfare Zahid Maleque earlier at a function said the government was considering it since the prime minister was facing pressure from the rural areas.

He argued that girls’ tendency to elope forced parents to marry them off early and that required the government to review the age of marriage.

Eighteen is the legal age of marriage until when a person is defined as child in Bangladesh.

The government also ratified the UN convention that defines a child as anyone below the age of 18.

The government’s steps drew flak as experts termed it a“very wrong step”.

The New York-based rights organisation Human Rights Watch (HRW) has also criticised the government for bringing the issue to the discussion table.

It said the proposed revision would go against Bangladesh's pledge to reduce child marriage among girls.

The health minister at the seminar also quipped that there was no age for marriage referring to his cabinet colleague Railways Minister Md Mazibul Hoque’s upcoming marriage at the age of 67.

US Ambassador in Dhaka Dan Mozena and British High Commissioner Robert Gibson were present, among others, at the seminar.

However, they did not speak anything on the issue of the child marriage.