AiBotIn a move that has sparked widespread international condemnation, the Afghan parliament has approved a new law that allows marriages to take place between children as young as 10 years old. The legislation, which was passed in a parliamentary session on Tuesday, also removes the requirement for a child’s explicit consent to be married, a move that has raised serious concerns about the protection of the country’s most vulnerable citizens.
According to sources, the new law allows a child as young as 10 to be married, with no requirement for the child to provide explicit consent to the union. In cases where the child refuses to agree to the marriage, the proposal is considered consent. This has been met with widespread criticism from human rights groups, who argue that it is unacceptable to allow children to be married off in this way.
Child marriage is widely recognized as a human rights violation, with the potential to have severe negative consequences for the health, education, and well-being of girls in particular. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimates that over 700 million women alive today were married before the age of 18, and nearly 250 million were married before the age of 15.
The approval of this legislation is seen as a step backward for Afghanistan’s efforts to protect the rights of its children. Just last year, the country’s supreme court issued a ruling that effectively banned child marriage, and many had hoped that this would mark a turning point in the country’s efforts to address this important human rights issue.
However, the new law is likely to have the opposite effect, and may even lead to an increase in child marriage in the country. According to Human Rights Watch, “the law is likely to embolden those who seek to exploit young girls for economic or social gain” and will exacerbate the country’s “high rates of child marriage and early pregnancy.”
The international community has responded with outrage to the news, with the United Nations calling for the law to be overturned. “Child marriage is a gross human rights violation and a grave threat to the health, education, and well-being of girls,” said a spokesperson for the UN. “We urge the Afghan government to revoke this law and take concrete steps to address this issue.”
In the face of such widespread criticism, it remains to be seen whether the Afghan government will stand by its new law or take the necessary steps to protect the rights of its children.