The Colombian senate has unanimously approved a law that will ban marriage for under-18s in the country.
The bill, titled “Son Niñas No Esposas”, passed on Wednesday, November 13 and put an end to an 1887 law which had allowed children older than fourteen to legally marry with the permission of their parents.
The move has been hailed as a step forward for children’s protections and women’s rights in Colombia, but some warn that it must be implemented carefully, especially among indigenous communities.
Campaigners in Colombia have sought to reform the law for 17 years, to no avail. The National Development Plan of Colombia (2018-2022) included abolishing child marriages as one of its objectives. But despite 8 attempts to amend the 1887 statute, the reform has only just passed.
Colombia is now the 12th country out of 33 in Latin America and the Caribbean to prohibit child marriage.
A 2018 UNICEF report found that 1 in 4 women in Colombia had been married for the first time before the age of 18. In total, 4.5 million women were wed before 18 while 1 million got married before the age of 15.
The bill was championed and co-written by congresswomen Alexandra Vásquez (Colombia Humana) and Jennifer Pedraza (Dignidad), among others.
The law does not come without complications, and implementation may prove difficult. Some parties worry that it does not sufficiently account for indigenous customs.
Indigenous Wayuu Senator Martha Peralta Epieyú, who was recently announced as the ruling Pacto Histórico coalition’s candidate in the next election, expressed concerns about the bill’s implementation.
Despite voting to approve its introduction, Peralta highlighted the need for measures to facilitate a transition away from child marriage traditions.
“I come from a culture where women are considered adults when they first menstruate,” Peralta told the Senate.
The Senator called for an implementation of the law that includes time and educational resources for indigenous communities to adapt to and understand the changes.
“We deserve the opportunity to coordinate on this, to discuss it, so that this [law] can be consented to. That way the prevention strategy can come from within, from inside our indigenous communities,” she said in her speech.
In addition to prohibiting new child marriages, the bill also makes it easier for those who were wed as children to annul their matrimony.
According to a UNICEF report, marrying before 18 is linked to an array of development problems primarily for girls.
“Child marriage and early unions are a complex phenomenon related to gender inequalities, poverty, dropout, violence and teenage pregnancy,” according to the organization.
The UNICEF report also highlighted that Latin America and the Caribbean is the only region in the world where cases of child matrimony have not declined for the past 25 years.
For campaigners, Colombia’s new law is a sign that this may be changing.
