Dominican Republic Officially Bans Child Marriages

Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader has signed a bill on Wednesday that officially banned child marriages in the country.

The Dominican Republic has the highest rates of child marriage in Latin America and the Caribbean. According to a We Are Mitu report, figures from the government showed that 36 percent of Dominican girls and adolescents marry or enter into "unions" before 18.

Dominican Republic Officially Banned Child Marriage

It was also found that 12 percent of these figures, the female partner was 15 years old or younger. It has been part of the Dominican culture wherein children younger than 18 years old could get married with a special exemption from a judge.

But with the bill that the Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader signed into law, child marriage is now prohibited. Under any circumstances, no woman and man under 18 would be allowed to marry in the Dominican Republic.

Reports of Child Marriage from UNICEF

According to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the Caribbean nation has one of Latin America's highest rates of child marriage and early unions. Typically, a younger female moves to the house of an older man after they get married.

Rosa Elcarte, UNICEF's representative in the Dominican Republic, said that child marriage and early unions are seen as normal in these demographics or society. She explained that this is driven by machismo that looks at the role of a woman to be just a mother and wife.

In a published report in Thomson Reuters Foundation, Elcarte said that ending early unions will require years of work to change cultural norms. It will also involve men, children, and their families to promote change that different rights activists have been fighting for many years.

Figures from the Government

In an NBC News report, government figures showed that more than a third of women aged 20 to 24 were married or in an informal union before 18.

The United Nations also estimated that around 12 million girls globally married before the age of 18 every year. That is a big problem because it is a contributing factor to health, education, and abuse risks and increases intergenerational poverty.

Rights Group Welcomed the New Law

Sonia Hernandez of the rights group International Justice Mission, which campaigned for the ban on marriage for those under 18 in the country, embraced the new law that the Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader signed on Wednesday.

She said: "Our girls and adolescents will be protected... and cannot be forced into marriage in their childhood or adolescence, which in the past was often carried out by parents and legally allowed."

Elcarte added that "girls need to have alternative offers that becoming a mother is not their only plan in life." She said they have to be given job opportunities and need to be supported to stay in school and find work to break the cycle of poverty that fuels child marriage.