Child Marriage Banned in Guatemala

Child Marriage Banned in Guatemala

Guatemala has raised the minimum age for marriage to 18. However, women’s rights campaigners claim that implementing the law would prove to be challenging as nearly one-third of girls in the country are currently married by that age.

The law, approved by Congress earlier this month by 87 votes to 15, raised the minimum marriage age from 14 for girls and 16 for boys, but said 16-year-old girls would still be able to marry with a judge’s permission under some cases.

Among the targets set out in the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals is ending child marriage by 2030.