Guatemala’s congress voted on Thursday Nov 05,2015 to raise the
minimum legal age for marriage to 18. It had been 14 for girls and 16
for boys
.
The unicameral congress voted 87 to 15 to
approve the change, which had been urged by children’s rights groups to
prevent child trafficking and teen pregnancies.
Congressman Leonel Lira, who voted in favour of the bill, says the law will treat sex with underage youths as a form of rape.
“This
breaks with a mistaken tradition,” Ms. Lira said. In some areas of
Guatemala, girls are often spirited away from their homes by suitors at
very young ages.
UNICEF expert Juan Quinonez says there have been about 4,000 marriages a year in Guatemala involving girls ages 15 to 19. He says 4,700 girls from age 10 to 14 get pregnant every year
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