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Law To Prohibit Marriages Of
Under 15 Approved
With a unanimous vote last
night, the law to prohibit
marriages of persons under the
age of 15 was approved and now
only needs to be published in
the official government
publication, La Gaceta, for it
to go into force.
The law reforms the Código de
Familia (family code) as well as
civil and penal codes and
established a complete
prohibition of registration of
marriages when one or both of
the conjugals are under the age
of 15. The reform also sanctions
lawyers and notaries who try to
register such marriages.
Legislator Leda Zamora presented
to the legislature the fact that
during the last six years, the
Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones (TSE)
registered 393 marriages where
minors under the age of 15 were
involved, one case involved a 12
year old.
Promoters of the legislations
argued that such marriages, in
many cases, were to cover up
sexual abuses of minors and
asked the support of fellow
legislators to put an end to the
practice.
The first reading of the law was
approved last Tuesday.
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