New marriage contracts which require the bride’s age to be recorded have been distributed by Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Justice as part of efforts to stop child marriages.
Sources in the ministry told Arab News the move represented a “serious step to prevent the marriage of young girls.”
The move has been welcomed by the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) and follows a number of high profile cases of children as young as eight being married off to much older men, the paper reports.
Earlier this year, the kingdom’s human rights commission intervened in a case where a 12-year-old girl was married to her father’s 80-year-old cousin.
Human rights and religious groups have demanded an end to child marriages and urged changes in the law to set a minimum marriage age. Marriage officials questioned by the paper said they expected this to be set at 17 or 18.
Support among the Saudi population for an end to child marriages is also strong. A recent survey by YouGovSiraj found 62 percent of people wanted a minimum marriage age set for women.
Overall, 70 percent of people said they would support such legislation if it was introduced, of which 67 percent were men and 80 percent were women.
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