MANILA: Child marriage became illegal in the Philippines on Thursday as a law banning the practice took effect in a country where one in six girls enters wedlock before the age of 18.
The impoverished Southeast Asian country has the 12th highest number of child marriages in the world, according to Britain-based rights group Plan International, with long-held cultural practices and gender inequalities hindering change.
But the new law, signed by President Rodrigo Duterte and released to the public on Thursday, lays out prison terms of up to 12 years for marrying or cohabiting with anyone under 18.
People arranging or solemnizing underage unions also face the same penalty.
“The state ... views child marriage as a practice constituting child abuse because it debases, degrades, and demeans the intrinsic worth and dignity of children,” the law states.
The government says the law is consistent with international conventions on the rights of women and children.
However, some portions of the legislation have been suspended for one year to allow for a transition period for Muslims and indigenous communities in which child marriage is relatively common.
A report last year by the United Nations Children’s Fund said more than half a billion girls and women worldwide were married in childhood, with the highest rates found in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
But recent data indicates the practice is generally in decline on average across the globe.
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Philippines bans child marriage
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Philippines bans child marriage
- Law lays out prison terms of up to 12 years for marrying or cohabiting with anyone under 18
Pakistani court sentences cleric from banned party to 35 years for inciting violence
- Pakistani officials say an anti-terrorism court has sentenced a senior leader of a banned Islamist party to 35 years in prison for inciting violence
- Isa had faced criticism from hard-line religious groups after he granted bail to a man from the minority Ahmadi community
LAHORE, Pakistan: A Pakistani anti-terrorism court sentenced a senior leader of a banned Islamist party to 35 years in prison for inciting violence, more than a year after the cleric publicly called for the killing of the country’s then-chief justice, court officials and a defense lawyer said Tuesday.
Zaheerul Hassan Shah, a leader of the outlawed Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan, was arrested last year after a video circulated on social media showing him offering 10 million rupees ($36,000) to anyone who beheaded then-Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa.
Isa had faced criticism from hard-line religious groups last year after he granted bail to a man from the minority Ahmadi community in a blasphemy case.
The Ahmadi religion is an offshoot of Islam, but Pakistan’s parliament declared Ahmadis non-Muslims in 1974. Ahmadi homes and places of worship are often targeted by Sunni militants, who consider them heretical.
Defense lawyer Maqsood-ul-Haq and court officials said Shah was convicted on Monday by an anti-terrorism court in the eastern city of Lahore.
The latest development comes less than two months after Pakistan’s government banned the TLP party following deadly clashes between the party’s supporters and police during a pro-Gaza rally.
Since those clashes, the party’s leader, Saad Rizvi, has been missing.
Police say Rizvi fled to Pakistan-administered Kashmir during the unrest, which began in early October after Rizvi was leading a march on Islamabad from Lahore, the capital of Punjab province.
Zaheerul Hassan Shah, a leader of the outlawed Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan, was arrested last year after a video circulated on social media showing him offering 10 million rupees ($36,000) to anyone who beheaded then-Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa.
Isa had faced criticism from hard-line religious groups last year after he granted bail to a man from the minority Ahmadi community in a blasphemy case.
The Ahmadi religion is an offshoot of Islam, but Pakistan’s parliament declared Ahmadis non-Muslims in 1974. Ahmadi homes and places of worship are often targeted by Sunni militants, who consider them heretical.
Defense lawyer Maqsood-ul-Haq and court officials said Shah was convicted on Monday by an anti-terrorism court in the eastern city of Lahore.
The latest development comes less than two months after Pakistan’s government banned the TLP party following deadly clashes between the party’s supporters and police during a pro-Gaza rally.
Since those clashes, the party’s leader, Saad Rizvi, has been missing.
Police say Rizvi fled to Pakistan-administered Kashmir during the unrest, which began in early October after Rizvi was leading a march on Islamabad from Lahore, the capital of Punjab province.
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