Senate Passes Amendment to Marriage Act, Making Marriage Legal at 18

In a historic session today, the Senate, joined by youth parliamentarians, passed a Bill to amend the Marriage Act, Chapter 174 of Belize’s laws. This amendment raises the legal marriage age to eighteen and eliminates the provision allowing parents or guardians to consent to the marriage of minors. This significant change was driven by a group of passionate teens who brought the issue to the House of Representatives, highlighting its importance on the national stage. The Bill received unanimous support from the Senate, including endorsements from the Leader of Government Business, Eamon Courtenay, and the Lead Opposition Senator, Mike Peyrefitte.

 

Eamon Courtenay, Senator, P.U.P.

“Madam President without any contradiction or condition, it is the position of the members of the senate and indeed the Government of Belize that this Bill is important. It is transformative, it is in the Belizean people’s interest, and we seek the support of the entire Senate for this modernizing piece of social legislation. Madam President, we are debating a matter of constitutional importance. This is a human rights issue. I put it as high as that because for too long, we have allowed in our country infants to be married and infants to be married with the consent of their parents.”

 

Mike Peyrefitte, Senator, U.D.P.

“There have been instances when children are pressured to, in some cases some would say practically sold off to grown men who want to marry little girls, especially because that’s the target of that criminal activities that have been taking place in terms of this consent. Madam President, what I know for sure, in the criminal courts in particular, you would have these men who would commit the crime of unlawful carnal knowledge, who would be engaged in sexual acts that young girls under sixteen, to protect from prosecution, they would go and bribe the parents or bribe the people to have these children marry them so that they can’t under the law, as their wide, testify against them in a court of law, which gets them Scott free from that very egregious crime. It is a very good piece of legislation, Madam President, I think that marriage is such as serious act and a serious responsibility that you can only be engaged in that act on your own free will.”