Child marriages often lead to divorce - Unicef report

A Unicef report has shown that the nation-wide divorce rate for child marriages among Muslims was more than a third of the total number of such unions in the country.

Between 2011 and 2016, a total of 6,584 child marriages among Muslims (where either one or both the partners are aged below 18) were registered with the Syariah Judiciary Department.

In the same time frame, a total of 2,479 Muslim couples filed for divorce.

This research was commissioned by Unicef and conducted by Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia law professor Noor Aziah Mohd Awal who presented her findings at a roundtable discussion at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (Isis) yesterday.

“We managed to get (data) where from 2011 to 2016, there were 2,479 cases of divorce involving those under 18 (among Muslims).

“The highest rates were in Kelantan and second was Sarawak,” she said.

The two states also charted the highest number of child marriages within this time period.

Noor Aziah clarified the numbers were not directly correlated, meaning the registered marriages were not necessarily the same ones listed in the divorce statistics.

During discussion time, Universiti Malaya law lecturer Farah Nini Dusuki quoted a 2013 study on Muslim child marriages by the Sarawak state government which showed that many such unions also led to eventual divorce.

“So yes, there is a correlation between early marriage and early divorce,” she said.

Besides an early divorce, Noor Aziah said child marriages exposed children to domestic violence, sexually-transmitted diseases, poverty and psychiatric disorders.

She identified the key drivers for of such marriages as pregnancy, impoverished economic conditions, a lack of education and a lack of sex education.

Viewed as ‘trivial’

In interviews conducted for her research, Noor Aziah also discovered lapses in administrative procedures around child marriages.

“The reason for the higher incidents of child marriages in some states is that some syariah court judges view the procedures for such marriages as trivial.

“They delegate these cases to be processed by officials,” she revealed.

Syariah law allows girls under 16 and boys under 18 to marry. Any younger, and state syariah enactments stipulate that syariah judges must personally interview the applicants to access their preparedness for marriage.

The professor added that she has since made recommendations to the Syariah Judiciary Department which, in turn, drafted a standard operating procedure for judges in regards to child marriages procedures.

She extrapolated that such “rubber-stamping” of child marriages occurred in cases involving non-Muslims as well.

For non-Muslim girls aged 16 to 18 seeking to marry, they must first seek permission from their state’s chief minister or menteri besar.

“We did ask an ex-chief minister at a forum if he (remembered) signing any documents and he said he did not remember signing any documents.

“So presumably it was done (through a) rubber-stamping process,” Noor Aziah said.

Limited data from the National Registration Department showed that 5,125 non-Muslim girls were married between 2005 and 2015. There was no such data for non-Muslim boys.

Total ban

Speakers and most participants at the discussion were firmly against child marriage and urged the new Pakatan Harapan government to legislate a total ban on them as per its election manifesto.

In her closing remarks for the discussion, Unicef’s representative to Malaysia Marianne Clark-Hattingh similarly urged the government to do so.

“We need to do better to protect children in Malaysia and in this regard, with Parliament currently in session and in alignment with the Harapan manifesto’s promise, Unicef calls for the passing of a bill for the setting the legal age of marriage at 18 without exception.

“We further call on the government to launch a nationwide campaign to change social and cultural behaviour so there is zero tolerance for child marriage in Malaysia,” she said.

Other speakers at the discussion were Women, Family and Community Development Ministry policy and planning division undersecretary Chua Choon Hwa and Voice of the Children founding chairperson Sharmila Sekaran. -Mkini