“All I wanted was to focus on my education. I didn’t comprehend at 16 that it was a life-changing decision that actually meant leaving my family and forming my own. I didn’t understand the consequences.”
Following family and community pressure, as a 16-year-old child, Payzee Mahmod was married to a man substantially older than she was. While she was able to obtain a divorce and win back her freedom, her sister however was tragically murdered in a so-called ‘honour’ killing. Ms Mahmod has said previously that her sister would still be alive today were it not for her child marriage.
I have long campaigned on the issue of child marriage, which disrupts educational and development opportunities, allows health inequalities to thrive and perhaps worst of all, unfairly robs young people of their childhood. It is rightly outlawed in nearly every country around the world and here has been illegal for many years, though we still allow parents to marry their children off at the age of 16.
Growing up in India I saw the ill effects of child marriage, and today those same impacts are still being felt in modern Britain. I have been pleased to support Pauline Latham MP in her efforts to legislate on this matter, as a sponsor of her Marriage and Civil Partnership Bill, which I hope will be returning before Parliament once again shortly.
This is not a party-political issue, but one which fundamentally goes to the heart of protecting the young and encouraging healthy development. I have written to both the Prime Minister and to Sir Keir Starmer on this, though I urge you to contact your own Member of Parliament and call on them to support Pauline Latham’s Bill when it next comes before the House of Commons.
The consequences are clear for all to see. Victims of child marriage are significantly more likely to be victims of rape, sexual abuse, domestic violence and yet we allow that risk to continue. In conversations with civil society organisations, campaign groups and from casework I know this is a mostly hidden issue here. I do not think the Government knows the full scale of the problem.
The Government has taken a leading role internationally in seeking to end child marriage, however UK law is undermining these efforts, and we have been called hypocrites on account of our own domestic law. Since 2015, the Department for International Development has provided £39 million to support international efforts to end child marriage, and as a senior Member of the International Development Committee in Parliament, I know just how transformative this work can be.
Britain, however, must lead by example. It must say no to child marriage and reaffirm our commitment to childhood, and in particular, to ensuring that girls have access to at least 12 good years of education. This is an easy action to take, not one that will impact many, and only asks a small number of genuine couples to delay their wedding a couple of years at most, all while protecting vulnerable young people.
As Payzee Mahmod said herself, “it is for us to change things for the next generation and make child marriage a crime, so they don’t suffer like I have.”
