No more ‘child marriages’ in England, Wales as age of consent raised to 18 years

London: England and Wales have introduced a new law where the legal of marriage has been fixed at 18 years. This move will protect children from forced marriage. The legislation for this move was passed last year, but has only come into effect on Monday, 27 February. Now, unlike earlier, where they had parental consent, 16 and 17-year-olds can no longer wed or enter a civil partnership in England or Wales. The change has come under the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Minimum Age) Act. Child marriage is now an offence The UK government has issued a statement regarding the move, stating: “It is now an offence to cause a child under the age of 18 to enter a marriage in any circumstances, without the need to prove that a form of coercion was used. This includes non-legally binding ‘traditional’ ceremonies which would still be viewed as marriages by the parties and their families.” Legislation introduced through Private Member’s Bill The legislation was introduced through a Private Member’s Bill presented by Pauline Latham OBE MP who said that child marriage destroys lives and through the change they attempt at protecting millions of boys and girls from child marriage. Reactions to new legislation Reacting to the move, Deputy Prime Minister, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, Dominic Raab MP, said that the law will better protect the vulnerable young people by “cracking down on forced marriage” in UK, adding, “Those who act to manipulate children into marrying under-age will now rightly face the full force of the law.” Natasha Rattu, Director of Karma Nirvana (a member of the Girls Not Brides Coalition), said that the change to the legislation is a huge victory for survivors and is a huge step forward in tackling the issue of abuse. She added, “Last year, the national Honour Based Abuse helpline supported 64 cases of child marriage, representing only a small picture of a much bigger problem. We hope that the new law will help to increase identification and reporting, affording greater protection to children at risk.” According to a report in BBC, it has been an emotional day for Payzee Mahmod, whose sister Banaz was murdered in a so-called honour killing after leaving her husband, who she was forced to marry at the age of 17. The report quoted her saying that the new law coming to force is one of the “most important days” of her life. Payzee said the changes would mean “the onus is no longer on the child to have to speak up against their parents or their community when they are faced with child marriage”. The move comes after the UK Government’s forced marriage unit, in 2021, provided advice or support in 118 cases where victims under the age of 18 were involved. Not applicable in Scotland, North Ireland However, the change does not apply in Scotland and Northern Ireland, where the minimum age for marriage remains 16. Furthermore, in Northern Ireland parental consent is required for those under 18 but not in Scotland. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.