North’s rights chief calls for prohibition on child marriages

The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission has called for a ban on child marriages, with new figures showing 68 children were married in the North in 2014.

A child aged 16 or 17 years may be married in Northern Ireland with the consent of his or her parents or legal guardians.

In a report to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child yesterday, the commission said this was contrary to the committee's recommendation to increase the minimum age for marriage, with or without parental consent, to 18 years for boys and girls.

The latest figures obtained by the commission show 42 girls and 26 boys were married in Northern Ireland in 2014.

"The marriage of under 18-year-olds is a live issue in Northern Ireland that needs to be addressed through a change to the law. This issue is a global one as well as a local one," said chief commissioner Les Allamby.

Abortion

In its report, the commission advised the committee that it should recommend to the British government that it take immediate steps in Northern Ireland to decriminalise abortion in all circumstances.

It also indicated that the UK should review its legislation “with a view to ensuring children’s access to safe abortion and post-abortion care services; and ensure that the views of the pregnant girl are always heard and respected in abortion decisions, in line with the committee recommendation relating to Ireland.”

Termination of pregnancy is currently only available in Northern Ireland if it is necessary to preserve the life of a woman, including where there is risk of serious and adverse effect which is either long term or permanent.

The punishment is life imprisonment for a woman who procures a termination or anyone who unlawfully performs a termination.

The commission took legal action in 2014 against the Northern Ireland Department of Justice, arguing that the law on abortion in instances of serious malformation of the foetus or pregnancy as a result of rape or incest was incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights.

Sexual crime

The High Court of Justice in Belfast ruled in November 2015 that the law on termination on pregnancy in the North was incompatible with Article 8 of the convention in cases of fatal foetal abnormality at any time and sexual crime up to the date the foetus becomes capable of an existence independent of the mother.

In its report, the human rights commission also advised the UN committee that it should call on the British government to take immediate steps to increase the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to at least 12 years of age and to act to ensure that children are held in pre trial detention only as a last resort.