In November, following a number of failed makes an attempt, politicians of all stripes permitted a invoice to overtake laws that has been in impact since 1887, reflecting a deep-rooted follow that violates the rights of youngsters and adolescents: in line with the United Nations Youngsters’s Fund (UNICEF). one in 5 women aged between 14 and 18 is in a union.
“This approval has been potential as a result of we’ve 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 executed to youngsters and adolescents with marriages and unions”.
Advancing youngsters’s rights
“We wish to congratulate Colombia on the magnificent information,” says Bibiana Aido Almagro, the pinnacle of UN Ladies in Colombia.
“These practices severely have an effect on the rights to life, well being, schooling, and integrity of ladies and women and negatively influence their improvement.”
Andrea Tague Montaña, gender and improvement officer at UNICEF in Colombia, agrees that the choice is a optimistic 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 women, to fall into poverty,” she warns. “They reinforce discrimination and the concept that the most effective 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, women have few alternatives to resolve in the event that they wish to have sexual relations, what number of youngsters they wish to have, or what sort of life they wish to lead.
“They enter situations the place, in lots of circumstances, they begin fulfilling grownup ladies’s roles. Little one labour, home work, and caregiving turn into their virtually each day duties,” provides the UNICEF official.
“These are women who cease finding out, who lose their rights by coming into an early union. You will need to name on society to cease normalizing early unions; this can be a violation of rights. Ladies don’t cease being women as a result of they’re dwelling 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 youngsters and adolescents affected by underage marriages and unions, with a particular emphasis on distant rural areas – making certain that indigenous peoples and different susceptible communities can participate.
The brand new legislation comes into impact as soon as it’s signed by President Gustavo Petro.
