Law and Native Affairs Assistant Minister Jannie Lasimbang said she would recommend that state laws on marriage comply with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).
“Just imagine your 15-year-old daughter or sister getting married. It would destroy her future.
“We must protect children at all costs. Let’s just call (females) under 15 years old children, not women,” she said to FMT.
Lasimbang, who has done extensive work on human and indigenous rights, said between 2010 and 2015, 6,286 Muslim children below 18 years of age had married nationwide after obtaining shariah approval.
“I will recommend that Sabah legislation comply with the CRC,” the Sabah DAP women’s chief and former Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) commissioner said.
The CRC defines a child as any human being under the age of 18, unless the age of majority is attained earlier under national legislation.
According to a report published by Sisters in Islam (SIS) and the Asian-Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women this year entitled “Child Marriage: Its Relationship with Religion, Culture and Patriarchy”, Malaysia is a signatory to the CRC.
The report says while the CRC does not explicitly deal with the issue of child marriage, it requires certain rights to be guaranteed by signatory states.
Shariah lawyer Hamid Ismail had courted controversy after proposing that the minimum age for Muslim girls in Sabah to marry be fixed at 15.
He subsequently said that the current age limit of 16 should remain, but that he wanted an age limit of 15 to be put in the Sabah Islamic Family Enactment 2004, which does not stipulate any age limit as of now.
Lasimbang had also previously said that Sabah would launch a thorough study on child marriages, which are prevalent in the state’s rural areas.
She said her ministry was aware of the issue but needed more data before it could deal with the problem.
After backlash, Shariah lawyer clarifies minimum age for marriage