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Sharia disallows restrictions on child marriage
by Scott Gilbreath ~ February 23rd, 2009
Yemen’s parliament recently agreed to legislate a minimum age of 17 for marriage, but now the legislation is reported to be in jeopardy because a few MPs maintain that it contravenes Sharia law.
Horiah Mashour, deputy head of the National Women’s Committee (NWC), a government body, said there was still some resistance to the amendments by a minority of extremist MPs.
“They want to bring the amendments into discussion again. They say there is no marriage age set by Sharia,” she told IRIN.
One MP, Abdulbari Dughaish, told IRIN that some MPs sought to re-open discussions on the new amendments.
“Withdrawing the agreed decision on setting the marriage age at 17 is possible. The MPs who agreed on it might change their minds,” he said.
Yemen used to have a minimum marriage age of 15, but that provision was repealed in 1999.
According to a 2007 report by the International Centre for Research on Women, Yemen has the 13th highest prevalence of child marriage.
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