... current UK law allows 16 and 17-year olds in England and Wales to marry with parental consent, a legal exception that leaves children vulnerable to being coerced by their parent into marrying against their will.
That’s why I’m calling for marriage under 18 in England and Wales to be a crime.
Outlawing child marriage is the best way to stop coerced child marriage from happening – there is no reason to leave children unprotected from the risks associated with child marriage in today’s society, when only 0.07% of registered marriages are with under 18s.
... did not choose child marriage, it ruined my future. It led me astray from my dreams of focusing on my education, it took away the best years of my life. I’ll never again be that innocent 16-year-old.
Alongside Freedom United and Girls Not Brides UK Co-Chairs: IKWRO, Karma Nirvana, Forward, and IndependentYemen Group, I am 100% backing changing the age of marriage.
I can confidently say it was not an experience a 16-year-old should go through. I have lifelong emotional scars from it and we need to put a stop to any more young women having their lives controlled like this.
www.change.org/p/boris-johnson-mp-safeguard-futures-end-child-marriage