In November, following a number of failed makes an attempt, politicians of all stripes authorized 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 accordance 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’ve got 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 achieved to youngsters and adolescents with marriages and unions”.
Advancing youngsters’s rights
“We need to congratulate Colombia on the magnificent information,” says Bibiana Aido Almagro, the top of UN Ladies in Colombia.
“These practices severely have an effect on the rights to life, well being, training, and integrity of ladies and ladies and negatively impression their improvement.”
Andrea Tague Montaña, gender and improvement officer at UNICEF in Colombia, agrees that the choice is a constructive transfer.
“Little one 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 the perfect factor that may occur to them is to marry and have youngsters”.
By coming into into an unequal energy relationship with older companions, explains Ms. Montaña, ladies have few alternatives to resolve in the event that they need to have sexual relations, what number of youngsters they need to have, or what sort of life they need to lead.
“They enter eventualities the place, in lots of circumstances, they begin fulfilling grownup ladies’s roles. Little one labour, home work, and caregiving develop into their nearly each day duties,” provides the UNICEF official.
“These are ladies who cease learning, who lose their rights by coming into an early union. It is very important name on society to cease normalizing early unions; it is a violation of rights. Women don’t cease being ladies as a result of they’re residing 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 weak communities can participate.
The brand new regulation comes into impact as soon as it’s signed by President Gustavo Petro.
