In November, following a number of failed makes an attempt, politicians of all stripes permitted a invoice to overtake laws that has been in impact since 1887, reflecting a deep-rooted observe that violates the rights of kids and adolescents: in line with the United Nations Youngsters’s Fund (UNICEF). one in 5 ladies aged between 14 and 18 is in a union.
“This approval has been doable as a result of we have now gathered the consensus of all political events, highlights Senator Clara López. “It not solely implies prohibition but additionally a strong public coverage that displays altering customs and raises consciousness among the many inhabitants concerning the nice hurt performed to kids and adolescents with marriages and unions”.
Advancing kids’s rights
“We need to congratulate Colombia on the magnificent information,” says Bibiana Aido Almagro, the pinnacle of UN Girls in Colombia.
“These practices severely have an effect on the rights to life, well being, training, and integrity of girls and ladies and negatively influence their improvement.”
Andrea Tague Montaña, gender and improvement officer at UNICEF in Colombia, agrees that the choice is a optimistic transfer.
“Baby marriages and early unions are understood as dangerous practices that not solely result in gender violence but additionally trigger the victims, particularly ladies, to fall into poverty,” she warns. “They reinforce discrimination and the concept one of the best factor that may occur to them is to marry and have kids”.
By getting into into an unequal energy relationship with older companions, explains Ms. Montaña, ladies have few alternatives to determine in the event that they need to have sexual relations, what number of kids they need to have, or what sort of life they need to lead.
“They enter situations the place, in lots of instances, they begin fulfilling grownup girls’s roles. Baby labour, home work, and caregiving change into their nearly each day duties,” provides the UNICEF official.
“These are ladies who cease finding out, who lose their rights by getting into an early union. You will need to name on society to cease normalizing early unions; this can be a violation of rights. Ladies don’t cease being ladies as a result of they’re dwelling with a person”.
The invoice additionally establishes actions to strengthen nationwide public coverage on childhood and adolescence, together with measures to revive the rights of kids and adolescents affected by underage marriages and unions, with a particular emphasis on distant rural areas – making certain that indigenous peoples and different susceptible communities can participate.
The brand new legislation comes into impact as soon as it’s signed by President Gustavo Petro.
