Petition addresses ‘child marriage’ Bill

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’.