Teenage marriages likely under-reported, says women’s group

 

The government says that 411 girls and 34 boys dropped out of school last year to get married.

PETALING JAYA: A women’s organisation has speculated that there has been a higher incidence of teenage marriages during the pandemic than shown in official figures.

“It is possible that the number 445 does not reflect the actual prevalence of child marriages during Covid-19,” a spokesman for the All Women’s Action Society (Awam) told FMT.

She noted that Unicef Malaysia had expressed concern about the likely increase in child marriages due to school closure and the need felt by parents to marry their children off for financial survival.

Religious affairs minister Idris Ahmad recently said that 411 girls and 34 boys dropped out of school last year to get married.

A hundred and eighty-three of them were from Sarawak. Sabah recorded 86 cases, Kelantan 43, Pahang 38, Terengganu 21, Perak 21, Kedah 17, Selangor 12, Johor 10, Perlis four, Penang four, Negeri Sembilan three, Melaka two and Labuan one.

The Awam spokesman said the report should not be taken lightly whatever the numbers.

“The high risk of gender-based violence and oppression in child marriages makes even a single child marriage one too many,” she said.

She urged the government to revive the National Strategic Plan on Addressing the Causes of Child Marriage.

“We do not have to reinvent the wheel. What we need to do now is allocate proper resources to put the national plan into action,” she said.

Another women’s group, Sisters in Islam (SIS), alleged in a tweet that the education ministry had failed to handle the education crisis that came with the pandemic.

It said the learn-from-home initiative was “unsystematic and uncomprehensive” and this had resulted in the failure of students to use their time meaningfully.

SIS noted that women, family and community development minister Rina Harun once said the government was committed to overcoming child marriage.

“However, it has not been followed through by action or amendments to policies,” it said.

Except for Selangor, state governments have yet to amend their laws to make 18 the minimum age for marriage although Penang, Sabah, Johor, Melaka, Perak and the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur have agreed to do so.

Child rights activist James Nayagam said the report about teenage marriages presented a worrisome trend in the country.

“I don’t see any strong political commitment towards addressing this issue,” he said. -FMT