10
UWI TODAY
– SUNDAY 22 JANUARY, 2017
CAMPUS ACTIVISM
We have been here before
, said Dr Gabrielle Hosein. The
head of the Institute for Gender and Development Studies
(IGDS) was speaking at a public forum on the Marriage
Acts in Trinidad and Tobago under the theme, “Too Young
to Wed.”
Chairing the forum in October 2016, she told the
audience that five years ago, the IGDS had broached the
subject at another forum to discuss the Marriage Acts in
Trinidad and Tobago, “Is it better for girls to marry? Who
decides?” (the video broadcast is available on the IGDS
YouTube page). Not much progress has been made since.
This time, the IGDS had joined with the Coalition to
End Child Marriage in Trinidad and Tobago to discuss this
contentious subject.
Statistics released by the Ministry of the Attorney
General show that 569 under-aged girls were married
from 2006 to 2016. Child marriages continue to be a
global problem, with world leaders like US First Lady,
Michelle Obama, and UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki Moon
commemorating the International Day of the Girl Child to
highlight the need to expand girls’ education in keeping
with the theme that Girls’ Progress equals Goals’ Progress.
Advocates against child marriage in Trinidad and
Tobago are trying to have the legal age for marriage in all
the Marriage Acts raised to 18, and to have more access to
sexual help services for those between the ages of 16 to 18
since the country’s legal age of consent was raised from age
16 to 18 in May 2015.
Panelists addressed these issues with a full audience at
the Institute of International Relations, starting with Folade
Mutota, Director of the Women’s Institute for Alternative
Development representing the Coalition to End Child
Marriage in T&T. She spoke on the higher age of eligibility
TOO YOUNG TO WED
B Y J E A N E T T E G . AWA I
Jeanette G. Awai is a freelance writer and a a Marketing and Communications Assistant at the Marketing and Communications Office, The UWI St Augustine
for males than females across the Acts and the Coalition’s
role (they comprise over 20 NGOs and have been partnering
since 2016) to end child marriage and protect children
through legislation and policies.
Dona Da Costa-Martinez presented (FPATT) - Family
Planning Association of Trinidad & Tobago perspective on
the age of sexual consent and the implications for sexual
and reproductive health. She reiterated the discordance
between the country’s marriage laws which allow parents
to enter their children into marriage from the age of 12 for
girls and 14 for boys and the country’s raising of the legal
age of sexual consent from 16 to 18 in 2015.
Raising the age of consent actually prevents sexually
active teenagers from approaching FPATT for sexual
reproductive services. Additionally, the Sexual Offences
Act criminalises persons such as teachers, doctors, lawyers
if they offer those services to persons under the age of
sexual consent. Current data about childmarriages does not
identify whether young girls were married to adult males,
which would be considered a sexual offence. According
to the Medical Chief of Staff, 74 girls under the age of 16
gave birth in 2015. Da Costa-Martinez called for not just
legislative change, but also a cross-sectional approach.
President of the HinduWomen’s Organisation (HWO),
Brenda Gopeesingh said that Hindu pundits who are
against raising the marriageable age across the Marriage
Acts do not speak for HWO, and they have been fighting
for change since 2011. The HWO’s research on the ill effects
of teenage pregnancy and the impact of early marriage
on the health and education of teenage girls have been
documented in their publication: “16 Days of Activism
2014: November 25 to December 10: Campaigning for
Change of the Marriage Acts of Trinidad and Tobago &
Policy Statements on Gays, Rights Abortion &HIV/AIDS.”
Rounding up the panel discussion was Khadija Sinanan,
Co-Director of WOMANTRA, who spoke at length on the
myths surrounding childmarriage. She started by dispelling
the notion that only Hindu and Orisha marriages include
the marriage of minors due to widespread media coverage
of these groups. However, she said, all four Acts, including
the Civil and Christian Acts have the minimum age of
marriage below 18 years. She stated child marriages are a
contemporary problem citing 51marriages that occurred in
2014 and 10 in 2015. Like the others, Sinanan emphasised
the need for the law to be changed since it violates the
rights, education, health and opportunities of young girls
and exposes them to violence and traps them in a cycle of
poverty. Additionally, child marriage is a driver of early
pregnancy, which leads to birth-related complications, often
resulting in low mortality rates in young mothers in lower
and middle income countries.
In the Q&A session, other NGO representatives in the
agreed that changes must be made to the child marriage
legislation, and that sex education should be included in
the school curriculum.
To add your voice in the fight to change the
Marriage Acts of Trinidad and Tobago use
the following hashtags across social media
platforms: #ChildMarriageisChildAbuse,
#MakeChildMarriageIllegal, #AmendtheMarriageLaws.
For more information about the Coalition to End Child
Marriage in T&T, IGDS and more, please visit the IGDS
website at
