Overhaul the child marriage law

Say Unicef, UNFPA, call for plugging loopholes

Nearly a decade after Bangladesh replaced its colonial-era child marriage law, a new review by UNFPA and Unicef says the Child Marriage Restraint Act (CMRA) 2017 is undermined by legal loopholes, contradictions and weak enforcement, and calls for sweeping reforms.

The review identifies two major problems: flaws in the law and poor implementation.

The act penalises those involved in child marriages but does not invalidate the marriages themselves. It also allows marriage below 18 in undefined “special circumstances” and contains provisions that conflict with other laws and children’s rights.

Meanwhile, child marriage prevention committees often fail to function, and officials lack proper training and logistical support.

Survivors also have limited access to shelters and legal aid, leaving the law unable to adequately protect girls most at risk.

The review recommends setting 18 as the minimum marriage age for both sexes, removing the provision allowing underage marriage in special circumstances, making the act take precedence over conflicting personal laws, and allowing children to annul their marriages.

The report comes at a time when Bangladesh continues to have the highest prevalence of child marriage in South Asia and ranks among the top 10 countries worldwide.

About 41.6 million child brides live in the country, including 22.3 million who married before the age of 15, according to the report, even after the prevalence of child marriage among girls under 18 fell from 51.4 percent in 2019 to 47.2 percent in 2025, according to the review, uploaded on the UN agencies’ website on Sunday.

The review rightly identifies several weaknesses in the act, said Taslima Yasmin, an associate professor in the Department of Law at Dhaka University, while arguing that legal reform should go beyond punitive measures to include stronger social protection for victims of child marriage.

Bangladesh has long relied on punitive measures to prevent child marriage, but decades of legislation have failed to end the practice, she said.

“Child marriage is a social custom, and punishment alone cannot end it. We need social measures, policy interventions and community-level initiatives and amend the act accordingly,” she told The Daily Star yesterday.

The law should include provisions to protect girls who escape or experience child marriage, ensuring access to shelters, rehabilitation, livelihood opportunities and financial support.

“A girl may escape a child marriage but find that her family will not accept her or that she faces stigma in her community. Where will she go? The current law does not adequately address these social protection needs,” she said.

WHAT THE REVIEW SAYS?

Child marriage is a major barrier to development, perpetuating poverty by cutting short girls’ education, exposing them to early and repeated pregnancies, and severely limiting their employment opportunities, the review says.

The link is reflected in the rising adolescent birth rate, which increased from 83 to 92 per 1,000 adolescent girls between 2019 and 2025, according to the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) 2025.

The review attributes persistently high child marriage rates to poverty, poor quality and unequal access to education, entrenched harmful social and gender norms, and safety concerns.

Deep-rooted social norms, fears of elopement and widespread economic insecurity, particularly in climate-affected or remote areas and urban slums, often lead families to view early marriage as a way to ease financial hardship and a better option for girls, it says.

A major shortcoming of the act is that it sets minimum marriage ages but does not declare underage marriages void.

Personal laws continue to recognise such marriages, meaning they can be both punishable offences and legally valid unions.

Section 19 is another major flaw. It allows marriage below 18 in “special circumstances” with court approval but does not clearly define those circumstances, “leaving the term dangerously open to misinterpretation and misuse”.

The law contains other contradictions. The minimum marriage age is 18 for girls and 21 for boys, meaning a woman aged 18 or older who marries a man under 21 could face prosecution.

Section 7(2) also allows minors to be detained and fined for child marriage, contradicting the law’s protective purpose and the Children Act 2013, which prohibits penal sanctions against children.

The review identifies other weaknesses, including the absence of a legal requirement for all marriages to be registered and the lack of criminalisation of marital rape.

Enforcement also remains weak, it said.

Child marriage prevention committees often fail to function properly, and officials sometimes arrive after wedding ceremonies have taken place.

Some families move ceremonies to neighbouring districts to avoid scrutiny while forged birth certificates and marriages through affidavits also persist.

To address the problems, UNFPA and Unicef recommend setting 18 as the minimum marriage age for both sexes and removing Section 19 entirely.

They also want the act to take precedence over conflicting personal laws and customs.

The agencies propose allowing children to annul their marriages at their own request until the age of 22, with compensation paid by the adult party.

The other recommendations include protecting the rights of children born from such marriages and removing criminal penalties for children involved in child marriages.

The review also proposes renaming the law “Shishu Bibaho Nirodh Ain” in Bengali.

To strengthen enforcement, the agencies call for functional prevention committees at every administrative level, trained Child Marriage Prohibition Officers down to the union level, and clear procedures for police and local officials.

They also recommend a state-funded support system providing survivors with rescue services, healthcare, shelter, counselling and legal aid, alongside a dedicated compensation fund.

Contacted, Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs Division Secretary Hafiz Uddin Chowdhury said the women and children affairs ministry is supposed to take the initiative in this regard.

“If they take steps and submit it to the cabinet division, then we will have a role to play,” he told this correspondent.

Rowsan Ara Begum, women and children affairs secretary, could not be reached for comment.