Thank you Mr Speaker and I welcome this Bill to make provision about the minimum age for marriage and civil partnership; and for connected purposes.
Mr Speaker, when I was researching the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Minimum Age) Bill to write this speech, I came across an American news channel reporting that the minimum age for marriage in Carolina was going to raised from 14 years old to 16 years old, and requiring the teens spouse to be no more than 4 years older and requiring the teen’s written parental consent to marry.
I was, Mr Speaker, I have to admit, flabbergasted; a 14 year old is a child, a 16 year old is a child and just as I am sure many of us witnessed the poor Russian skater, Kamila Valieva, at 15 – a child – going through the trauma she went through in the recent Winter Olympics, we see time and time again, situations where adults are not making the right or best decisions for children.
Children are children until they reach adult at 18 years old. It is absolutely right that this Bill is brought by the Hon. Member for Mid Derbyshire and I welcome that it is supported across the House and by the Government.
Children need to be children and be permitted to be children – enjoying all the joy and freedom without adult responsibilities.
Child rights are fundamental freedoms and must be inherent in all children under the age of 18 irrespective of race, religion, sex or any other status.
Children are not the property of their parents. They are human beings and have rights. The Convention on the Rights of the Child sets out the rights that must be realised for children to develop to their full potential.
The Convention offers a vision of the child as an individual and as a member of a family and community, with rights and responsibilities appropriate to his or her age and stage of development. By recognising children's rights in this way, the Convention firmly sets the focus on the whole child.
All children should have and deserve to have access to opportunities. Children are innocent. They are full of hope and they are trusting. Rather than be thrown or forced into an adult life they should be allowed to mature gradually through new experiences which are age appropriate. It is a travesty that for far too many children, the reality of their childhood is all too different. Throughout history children have been abused and exploited by adults – slave labour, hunger, homelessness, limited education opportunities and so on. Childhood must be protected and children should be allowed and encouraged to develop in their own time.
Marriage or a civil partnership is an adult decision and requires thought. A party to a marriage should not take a passive approach – it is not something to ‘go along with’ or have done to you. It requires mature thought. Marriage is an important part of building healthy and protective relationships, families, and societies. Marriage should not cause harm to either party. Early and forced marriages often take place in communities where there is a wider social context that denies women’s and children’s rights.
Currently, in England and Wales, the minimum age for marriage or civil partnership without parental or other third-party consent (as defined), or judicial consent, is 18. A person who is 16 or 17 may marry or form a civil partnership only with such consent (with some very rare exceptions where the 16- or 17-year-old is a widow or widower or surviving civil partner). A marriage or civil partnership is void if either of the parties is under the age of sixteen.
This Bill would raise to 18 the minimum age for marriage and civil partnership in England and Wales. This might affect marriages and civil partnerships which take place outside of England and Wales – a change on the common law will also mean that any marriages which take place overseas, or in Scotland or Northern Ireland, involving under 18s where one of the parties is domiciled in England and Wales, will not be legally recognised in England and Wales. This change to recognition will also apply to civil partnerships.
In 2018 (the most recent year for which data is available) 147 16-17-year-olds entered into a legally binding marriage with a person of the opposite sex, representing a very small proportion - 0.06% - of all marriages that took place in England and Wales in 2018. Marriages of same‑sex couples or civil partnerships are not reported with a detailed age breakdown.
The majority of 16-17-year-olds who marry are female. In 2018, 119 of the 16-17-year-olds getting married were female while 28 were male. Over the last five years, an average of 79% of all 16–17-year-olds getting married have been female.
UNICEF considers that child marriage is a violation of human rights – regardless of sex but has emphasised that ‘child marriage often compromises a girl’s development by resulting in early pregnancy and social isolation, interrupting her schooling, limiting her opportunities for career and vocational advancement and placing her at increased risk of domestic violence. Although the impact on child grooms has not been extensively studied, marriage may similarly place boys in an adult role for which they are unprepared and may place economic pressures on them and curtail their opportunities for further education or career advancement.’
Gender equality and ending the exploitation of women and girls is vital and one of the United Nations Sustainable Development goals, agreed by world leaders, is to “Eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation”. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child recommends that there should be no legal way for anyone to marry before they turn 18, even if there is parental consent.
The Bill would also expand the existing criminal law on forced marriage to make it illegal for a person to arrange the marriage of a person under the age of 18 in England and Wales. The offence would apply to any religious or civil ceremony of marriage, whether or not it is legally binding. The existing law only applies if a form of coercion is used or if the victim lacks capacity under the Mental Capacity Act 2005.
In 2020, the Forced Marriage Unit gave advice or support in 759 cases related to a possible forced marriage and/or possible female genital mutilation (FGM), the significant majority related to forced marriage. The FMU notes that the overall case number represents a 44% decrease on the average number of cases (1,359) received annually between 2011 and 2019 – the decrease thought to be attributed to the pandemic because of restrictions on weddings and overseas travel, for example.
The FMU set out additional information on the cases it dealt with in 2020: Of the cases that the FMU provided advice or support to in 2020:
• 199 cases (26%) involved victims below 18 years of age
• 278 cases (37%) involved victims aged 18-25
• 66 cases (9%) involved victims with mental capacity concerns
• 603 cases (79%) involved female victims, and 156 cases (21%) involved male victims.
The FMU states that of the cases it dealt with in 2020, 15% involved victims aged 15 and under, 11% were 16-17 years old, and 22% were between the ages of 18 and 21 and highlights that ‘Cases concerning young children often involve the ‘promise’ of a future marriage (betrothal), or the younger sibling of someone at a direct risk, rather than an imminent marriage. The case numbers also include FGM, which often involves child victims.
Last year, the Government published its tackling violence against women and girls strategy, which sets out a range of actions aimed at tackling acts of violence or abuse that disproportionately affect women and girls. Forced marriage is identified as one such issue, and the strategy states that the Government “remains committed to the goal of ending child marriage in this country” and has indicated “the need to signal to other countries that child marriage is something which needs to be tackled”.
The strategy also states that ‘Child marriage and having children too early in life can deprive children of important life chances, which is why the Government will support raising the age of marriage and civil partnership in England and Wales from 16 to 18, when an appropriate legislative vehicle becomes available, to help stamp out marriage of minors. The age of 18 is widely recognised as the age at which one becomes an adult, and at which full citizenship rights should be gained.’
This Bill is the legislative vehicle to stamp out the marriage of minors and I wholeheartedly support it.