LA PAZ: Bolivia’s parliament has passed legislation to ban marriages and civil unions with minors, bringing the country closer to the 13 Latin American nations that have already outlawed the practice.
A 2014 law restricted marriages to adults, but allowed an exception for people aged 16 and 17 if they had authorization from parents or guardians.
Just over 4,800 such underage unions were registered between 2014 and 2023, according to the Ombudsman’s Office of Bolivia.
The Chamber of Deputies on Wednesday passed an amendment to close the loophole.
The bill had been greenlit by the senate in April and will now be sent to the president for promulgation.
“This is not just a law, it is a promise that our teenage girls will no longer be forced to marry, leave school or take on responsibilities that do not belong to them,” said ruling party senator and bill author Virginia Velasco in a press release.
Officials who register marriages involving minors may be prosecuted and jailed for up to four years, Velasco added.
Advocacy group Save the Children cited data saying 32,300 girls in Bolivia were married before the age of 15 in 2014, the most recent data available.
Child marriages are prohibited in 13 Latin American countries, including Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and El Salvador, according to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).
Bolivian parliament passes bill to end child marriages
https://arab.news/j47tx
Bolivian parliament passes bill to end child marriages
- The bill had been greenlit by the senate in April and will now be sent to the president for promulgation
- Officials who register marriages involving minors may be prosecuted and jailed for up to four years
Police ground drone drug flights from Morocco to Spain
- The drones would depart from southern Spain to pick up the drugs in Morocco and return
- Packages were equipped with fluorescent markers and radio-linked geolocation devices to aid night-time recovery
MADRID: Spanish police said Wednesday they had arrested nine people and dismantled a criminal network that used homemade drones “with exceptional range” to transport hashish from Morocco to Spain.
The drones would depart from southern Spain to pick up the drugs in Morocco and return, releasing the cargo over Vejer de la Frontera and Tarifa in Cadiz province, Spain’s Guardia Civil police force said in a statement.
Packages were equipped with fluorescent markers and radio-linked geolocation devices to aid night-time recovery, it added.
Police said the group manufactured the drones, which were capable of flying over 200 kilometers (120 miles) using components brought from Asian suppliers at a workshop in Alcala de los Gazules.
“The group developed homemade drones with exceptional range, accuracy, and carrying capacity, well beyond that of standard commercial models,” the statement said.
The network operated nearly every night, launching up to 10 drones simultaneously and moving roughly 200 kilograms (440 pounds) of hashish in a single night.
The operation, dubbed “Ruche” which means “beehive” in French, was carried out in cooperation with the Royal Moroccan Gendarmerie after authorities detected multiple unidentified drone flights between the two countries.
Police seized eight drones, and another 10 which were being built, in five raids carried out Monday in southern Spain, along with over 150 kilograms of hashish and 320,000 euros ($370,000) in cash.
Nine people have been arrested so far.
Northern Morocco is just 14 kilometers from Spain’s southern Andalusia region at the Strait of Gibraltar’s narrowest point.
Spain is a major entry point for hashish into Europe because of its proximity to Morocco, a key producer of the drug.
Last year, Spanish police busted a criminal network that used Ukrainian-made drones to fly hashish from Morocco to Spain.
The devices used by that group were capable of transporting up to just 10 kilograms of drugs per trip and had an autonomy of more than 50 kilometers.
