Betelnut 7 MIRC Ch. 20 means person under the age “’minor’ of 18 years” § 2002 Prohibition Act, 2010 26 MIRC Ch. 9 means an individual or Domestic “‘child Violence person under the age of 18.’” § 903 Prevention and Protection Act, 2011 Child Rights P.L. 2015-50 shall mean any person who is “child” Act 2015 below 18 years The states that the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1988 male at the time of contracting the marriage must be not less than eighteen (18) years of age and the female be not less than sixteen (16) years of age. The 2011 census did not disaggregate the marriage data by age for ages 15-59. According to the census, no children aged 14 and under are married. In February 2016, MOIA submitted to the Cabinet, an amendment bill to raise the marital age of girls from 16 to 18 years old. Previous RMI national report erroneously stated the law had already been amended. The RMI apologizes for the misrepresentation. A challenge for the Government is that although marriages officiated by the courts do not exist, this does not take into account the much more common practice of customary marriages or cohabitation. There have been no studies conducted on customary marriages and cohabitation in children, though there is considerable anecdotal evidence of children below the legal marriageable age cohabitating. The MOH, YTYIH and the WKWJ have been actively doing
Betelnut Prohibition Act, 2010 7 MIRC Ch. 20 “’minor’ means person under the age of 18 years” § 2002 Domestic Violence Prevention and Protection Act, 2011 26 MIRC Ch. 9 “‘child means an individual or person under the age of 18.’” § 903 Child Rights Act 2015 P.L. 2015-50 “child” shall mean any person who is below 18 years The Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1988 states that the male at the time of contracting the marriage must be not less than eighteen (18) years of age and the female be not less than sixteen (16) years of age. The 2011 census did not disaggregate the marriage data by age for ages 15-59. According to the census, no children aged 14 and under are married. In February 2016, MOIA submitted to the Cabinet, an amendment bill to raise the marital age of girls from 16 to 18 years old. Previous RMI national report erroneously stated the law had already been amended. The RMI apologizes for the misrepresentation. A challenge for the Government is that although marriages officiated by the courts do not exist, this does not take into account the much more common practice of customary marriages or cohabitation. There have been no studies conducted on customary marriages and cohabitation in children, though there is considerable anecdotal evidence of children below the legal marriageable age cohabitating. The MOH, YTYIH and the WKWJ have been actively doing
CRC_C_MHL_3-4_6689_E.docx