New York, NY August 23, 2017: Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA) congratulates the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador for unanimously approving a reform to its Family Code to prohibit marriage among minors. The bill, approved on August 17 in plenary session and on August 16 in the Committee on the Family, Childhood, Adolescence, the Elderly and Persons with Disabilities, will enter into force eight days after its publication in the country’s official journal.
With this reform, El Salvador unequivocally establishes 18 as the minimum age of marriage with no exceptions, and joins its Central American neighbors, Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras and Guatemala – the latter repealing the exceptions in its Civil Code on this same date – that have taken steps to prohibit child marriage in their legislative frameworks.
PGA, in collaboration with its National Group in the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador, and with support from UN Women and UNICEF, convened the Legislative Forum “Sharing Experiences and Best Practices in Latin America and the Caribbean to Prevent and Eliminate Child Marriage and Early Unions,” on July 5th in San Salvador, where PGA Board member Dip. Ronny Monge (Costa Rica), Dip. Gloria Reyes (Dominican Republic) and Dip. Soledad Buendía (Ecuador), shared their experiences on addressing child marriage with their Salvadoran peers.
During this Legislative Forum, the Chair of the Committee on the Family, Childhood, Adolescence, the Elderly and Persons with Disabilities and its members, as well as members of the Committee on Women and Gender Equality and other Committees, vowed to analyze and discuss the proposal to prohibit this harmful practice in their next parliamentary session.
After the successful approval of this reform in the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador, PGA Board Member Dip. Karina Sosa, Chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Central American Integration and Salvadorans Abroad, stated:
We are incredibly satisfied with the adoption of this bill and would like to express our gratitude and recognition to the commitment and support from the United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations, such as PGA and Plan International, in accompanying us to begin transforming this reality that our children and adolescents, especially our girls, have lived through. Today, we have given a firm and forceful step to uphold the rights of children in line with the obligations assumed by El Salvador when we ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990.
Dip. Mario Tenorio, Chair of the Committee on Legislation and Constitutional Affairs and Chair of PGA’s National Group in El Salvador, said:
We are very pleased that El Salvador stated last week that minors below 18 years of age will not be able to get married under any circumstance. With this decision, we are taking a very important step to prohibit child marriage in our country. This is a key step in guaranteeing and protecting the rights of the child. Members of Parliamentarians for Global Action supported this initiative and we pledged to end child marriage. Our commitment is always with PGA in support of these efforts aimed at protecting the rights of our children.
Learning about the decision of the Legislative Assembly, Dip. Reyes from Dominican Republic indicated:
I celebrate this development in defense of the rights of minors in El Salvador with the end to child marriage in their legislation. I congratulate each and every legislator who voted to protect the country’s children demonstrating their political will and commitment to fight this hindrance affecting many countries and, with grave concern, Central America. This is only the beginning to eliminate child marriage; we must continue with systematic actions that engage all sectors of society to promote a cultural change that increases awareness among society at large and families in particular.
About PGA’s CEFM Campaign
PGA’s Global Parliamentary Campaign to End Child, Early and Forced Marriage seeks to create awareness among parliamentarians and other decision-makers about the importance of protecting and promoting the rights of the girl, to mobilize them around the prevention and elimination of child marriage at the national, regional and international levels, and to contribute to an increase in domestic political will aimed at building a legal framework and public policy that asserts this protection through the establishment of 18 as the minimum age for marriage, uniformly for both boys and girls, with no exceptions; strengthening civil registration (births and marriages), health and education systems; and guaranteeing the enjoyment of sexual and reproductive health and rights, property rights, and access to justice for all girls and women.
Contact in New York
Ms. Mónica Adame
Director of the Gender, Equality and Population Program
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