Bangladesh yesterday approved a law setting a two-year jail term for anyone involved in marrying a girl aged under 18, in a bid to cut the country’s notoriously high child marriage rate.

The new law comes days after new UN figures showed two-thirds of Bangladeshi girls marry before they reach adulthood. It targets the parents or guardians and the marriage registrar as well as the groom.

“Anyone found responsible for child marriage, including the groom, the marriage registrar or the guardians, would be jailed for up to two years,” said cabinet secretary Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan.

The current legal age for marriage in Bangladesh is 18 for women and 21 for men. Child marriage is punishable by up to three months in jail but the law is poorly enforced.

The bill is expected to be passed during the current session of the parliament, Bhuiyan said.

Girls and women will not be punished for marrying an
underage man.

“We do not want to jail people but the goal is to prevent people from this bad practice,” he said.

A report published last week by the UN children’s agency said Bangladesh’s high rate of child marriage was putting girls at risk of sexual exploitation and
domestic violence.

Besides, a child marriage prevention committee will be formed at various tiers with government officials, non-government officials, public representatives
and civil society members.

According to a survey, Bangladesh has one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world. The survey shows that in Bangladesh, 64% of women currently aged 20–24 were married before the age of 18. This is despite the fact that the minimum legal age of marriage for females in Bangladesh
is 18 years and 21 for males.

The survey finds that lack of education is strongly associated with levels of child marriage. Not only is this an additional driver, marriage under the age of 18 also deprives girls of their right to education.

Many girls drop out of school after entering wedlock.

Another adverse effect of child marriage is early pregnancy and childbirth. These can have detrimental and long-term health effects on girls whose bodies are not developed enough to give birth, and also increase health risks to the newborn.