Petition addresses ‘child marriage’ Bill
Publish date: 10 August 2020
Issue Number: 885
Diary: IBA Legalbrief Africa
Category: Somalia
Somalian activists have started a petition urging Parliament to reject proposed legislation that could allow child and forced marriages. The petition, which has received 6 000 signatures, says the Intercourse Bill contravenes the country’s Constitution and international conventions ‘and will further violate the human rights, agency and bodily autonomy of children, women and girls in Somalia’. BBC News reports that the UK ambassador to Somalia, Ben Fender, says ‘the new draft allows marriage at puberty’.