Worth the Years of Fighting: Child Marriage Finally Banned!

Following eight failed attempts and 17 years of campaigning, Colombia has finally approved the eradication of child marriage, paving the way for other countries to beat the odds and power through to protect and respect the rights of boys and girls.

“We do not want to continue seeing the systematic violence and sexual exploitation of children,” explains Jennifer Pedraza, congresswoman for the Dignity and Commitment Party and co-author of the bill dubbed They are Girls, Not Wives [“Son niñas, no esposas” in Spanish]. “Colombia is making history because, for the first time, we have managed to ban child marriage after trying eight times.”

For 137 years, a loophole in the country’s civil code allowed under-18s to marry with parental consent. It is estimated that 4.5 million Colombian girls and women married before 18, with roughly one in four married before they were 15, according to Unicef. Out of the 33 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, 12 have entirely banned child marriage. Colombia follows in the footsteps of the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Mexico, and Puerto Rico. “So we are very happy that Colombia has just left the shameful list of countries that allow childhood marriage.”