Philippines: Child marriage finally banned by law

One in six girls in Southeast Asia marries before age 18

By Edward Era Barbacena

Child marriage was banned in the Philippines , under a law that came into effect Thursday in the country where one in six girls marry before the age of 18. "The State (...) considers child marriage as a mistreating practice of minors because it degrades, degrades and demeans the intrinsic value and dignity of the child", indicates the text of the law.

Plan International, a UK-based rights group that campaigned for the passage of the law, ranks the Philippines 12th in the world for the number of child marriages concluded on its soil. From now on, anyone who marries or cohabits with a person under the age of 18, or arranges or celebrates such unions, is liable to twelve years in prison. According to the Philippine government, the law complies with international conventions on the rights of women and children.

A period of transition

Ana Maria Locsin, Philippines director of Plan International, welcomed the new law. “Child marriage is a harmful practice that can have a lasting impact throughout the lives of girls and boys. It denies them the right to be free from violence, the right to education and sexual and reproductive health rights, ”she told AFP.

However, certain provisions of the law will remain in abeyance for a year for Muslim and indigenous communities, where engagements and child marriages are relatively common. The purpose of the transition period is to give the government time to convince the followers of this practice to give it up.

Young girls' unions at puberty

The Philippines, a predominantly Catholic country, has a large Muslim minority who live mainly in the south of the country. In the Muslim Autonomous Region of the southern island of Mindanao, local parliament deputy Ziaur-Rahman Adiong said several members of his assembly tried to convince President Rodrigo Duterte to veto the law , without success. In this region, a law of 1977 allows Filipino Muslims to marry when they reach puberty, defined for women on the date of their first period.

More than 500 million girls and women currently alive in the world were married in their infancy, the highest rates being recorded in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia , recalls a report by the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) published in 2021. Recent data, however, indicates that child marriage is generally on the decline across the world.