Child Marriage Act: Monitoring committees to be set up

KARACHI: Monitoring committees will be set up in every district of Sindh to ensure implementation of the Child Marriage Act, announced provincial women development secretary Abdul Rasheed Solangi on Wednesday. He was addressing a training workshop organised by the department and the United Nations Children’s Fund to spread awareness about the adverse effects of child marriages. Solangi explained that the marriage laws of 1929 had been replaced by new laws that increased the legal age of marriage from 16 years to 18 years, adding that violations were punishable with two to three years of rigorous imprisonment as well as fines. The monitoring committee in each district will be headed by the deputy commissioner, while the district women development officer will be the secretary.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 9^th, 2015.