The arduous fight against child marriage in a remote district

Administrative penalties still increase

We met a young girl named Luong Thi B. from Phia Kham 2 village, Bac Ly commune (Ky Son) in a temporary hut in the livestock area of ​​Khanh Thanh village (Nam Can commune), where B. is living with her parents-in-law because her husband is working far away.

With a pregnant belly, B. sat quietly by the fire in the corner of the house. After a moment of hesitation and reserve, the Khmu ethnic girl told that she met her husband, Ven Van D. (born in 2005), through Facebook and followed him to live with her in Khanh Thanh village since 2022 when he was only 16 years old. Because they were not old enough to get married, the two did not have a wedding, nor did they inform the authorities.

In the remote district of Ky Son, cases of child marriage like Luong Thi B. occur quite often, concentrated in the villages of the Mong people. There are even cases of girls getting married when they are only 13-14 years old.

According to Ms. Vu Y Nai - President of the Women's Union of Nam Can commune: Although the government has established a Steering Committee to implement the Project "Reducing the situation of child marriage and consanguineous marriage"; actively coordinating with functional agencies and schools to focus on propaganda, mobilization, and implementation of signing commitments not to violate child marriage for households and students, Nam Can is also the first unit in Ky Son district to pilot administrative sanctions, but child marriage still recurs. In 2022, the whole commune had 17 cases of child marriage, in 2023 there were 19 cases, of which 11 cases were administratively sanctioned.

A similar situation also occurs in Huoi Tu commune, where there are 4 ethnic groups: Mong, Thai, Kinh, Kho Mu living, of which Mong people account for 97%. Mr. Mua Ba Gio - Chairman of the Commune People's Committee said: In 2023, the Commune People's Committee assigned officials to propagate, sign commitments, review statistics on the situation of early marriage and consanguineous marriage in 13/13 villages. At the same time, invitations were sent to households with children in early marriage for administrative sanctions.

Most recently, on October 3, 2023, the Chairman of the People's Committee of Huoi Tu commune issued a decision to administratively fine Mr. Vu Va Nhenh, born in 1986, in Pha Xac village, Huoi Tu commune, with a fine of 2 million VND because his daughter Vu Y M., born in 2007, got married before reaching marriageable age.

However, the situation of child marriage has not decreased (in 2021 there were 16 cases, in 2022 there were 26 cases and in 2023 Huoi Tu commune had 36 cases of child marriage). The People's Committee of the commune has decided to fine 14 cases with a total amount of 28,000,000 VND (there are 22 cases that have not been fined because citizens working far away have not been contacted).

Visiting Pha Bun village, when asked about the situation of early marriage, Village Chief Ho Tong Lau sighed: The cadres and village management board have also propagated a lot, but it is very difficult. Boys and girls fall in love at school and then live together, then fall into a vicious cycle of poverty, and parents cannot stop them.

In 2023, the village had 3 cases of early marriage. The village management board, in conjunction with the head of the clan, had a hard time persuading a 17-year-old to give up the idea of ​​getting married because she was not old enough to get married.

In Tay Son commune, the Party Secretary of Vu Va Renh commune also said: On average, each year the commune directs 3-4 propaganda campaigns to each village in both the common language and the language of the ethnic minorities, combined with strict punishment for violations according to the provisions of the law. Accordingly, households with children getting married early are fined from 1-2 million VND, while party members and officials with children getting married early are fined 3 million VND to set an example, but the situation of early marriage has not decreased. In 2022, there were 21 couples getting married early, in 2023 up to now, there are 24 couples.

Fully aware of the immediate and long-term consequences of child marriage, in recent years, Party committees and authorities at all levels in Ky Son district have implemented many solutions to combat this problem.

Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan - Head of the Justice Department of Ky Son district said: In 2021, the Standing Committee of Ky Son District Party Committee issued Directive No. 07 CT/HU on strengthening the leadership of Party committees at all levels in the prevention and control of child marriage and incestuous marriage in the area.

The District People's Committee issued Official Dispatch No. 614/UBND dated July 21, 2022 to propagate the law on preventing child marriage and raise awareness of compliance with the law on marriage and family with many solutions, including directing the establishment of clubs and models for preventing child marriage in the villages.

In 2023, to increase deterrence, the Department of Justice advised the District People's Committee to issue Official Dispatch No. 445 UBND-TP on administrative sanctions for violations of child marriage. It requires communes to organize inspections and review of violations of child marriage from January 1, 2023 to present; at the same time, administrative sanctions are imposed according to Clause 1, Article 58, Decree 82/2020/ND-CP. However, the situation of child marriage has not shown any signs of decreasing.

In 3 years (2020-2022), the whole Ky Son district had over 516 cases of child marriage and 11 cases of incestuous marriage. In 2023 alone, from January to September, there were 235 cases of child marriage, concentrated in the communes of Na Ngoi, Huoi Tu, Nam Can, Doc May, Nam Can...

Many difficulties

According to Mr. Ho Ba Rua - Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Huoi Tu commune, the reasons leading to the situation of early marriage are due to low educational level, limited legal awareness; deeply rooted customs and practices in the community and the notion that early marriage is necessary to have more labor force in the family.

Besides, due to difficult life, parents are busy making a living and do not pay attention to the psychological and emotional life of their children when they enter adolescence; the situation of children dropping out of school and being illiterate still occurs, leading to early marriage.

On the other hand, with the development of the Internet, young people in the highlands can easily access unhealthy information and images on social networks, so the trend of premarital pregnancy is on the rise.

Having worked for many years in the propaganda work to prevent child marriage, Ms. Mua Y Ly, a Mong ethnic, a judicial officer of Tay Son commune, shared: "childish" couples often do not go to the commune People's Committee to register their marriage but live together when they reach the age to register. In many cases, the Party Committee and the government have promptly detected and directly visited the house, reminded, and made records to handle administrative violations, but then everything went back to the way it was because the idea of ​​"if it's not given, we'll take it" has been deeply ingrained in the children's thinking and to some extent there is also a compromise from the community where they live.

“According to Mong custom, boys and girls usually live together for 3 days before getting married. When the authorities find out, it is “already done”. In some cases, when prevented, they even threaten to eat poison leaves to commit suicide.

Getting married and giving birth at an early age not only endangers the health of both mother and child, but also affects the rights of the children. Without a marriage certificate, the government cannot issue a birth certificate for the children, and they are not entitled to health insurance benefits and free health insurance as prescribed,” said Ms. Mua Y Ly.

According to the leader of the district's Justice Department, in addition to the causes due to the influence of backward customs and practices; the intellectual level, awareness, and legal consciousness of the majority of people are still limited... it must be recognized that the work of propaganda, dissemination, and legal education as well as the development of content and topics on marriage and family, sex education, adolescent reproductive health... for students at schools in the area is still limited.

On the other hand, the intervention and administrative sanctions from local authorities in cases of early marriage are sometimes not resolute; and the deference given to the binding relationships in the community and clan are also reasons leading to the ineffectiveness of the work of preventing and reducing early marriage.

Early marriageis the act of getting married when one or both parties are under the legal age of marriage.in Article 8 of the Law on Marriage and Family. Specifically, Clause 1, Article 8 stipulatesnMen and women getting married must comply with the following conditions:

a) Men from 20 years of age or older, women from 18 years of age or older;

b) Marriage is voluntarily decided by men and women;

c) Not having lost civil capacity;

d) The marriage does not fall under one of the cases of prohibited marriage as prescribed in Points a, b, c and d, Clause 2, Article 5 of this Law.

Marriage must be registered and performed by a competent state agency in accordance with the provisions of this Law and the law on civil status. A marriage that is not registered in accordance with the provisions of this clause shall have no legal validity.

Need to solve from the root

Early marriage not only goes against the human spirit stipulated in Clause 2, Article 17 of the 1992 Constitution and the direction of the Central Secretariat in Directive 6-CT/TW dated June 24, 2021 on strengthening the Party's leadership in family building in the new situation, but is also a violation of the law, leaving many consequences for families and society.

Therefore, to prevent the problem of child marriage, the remote district of Ky Son needs fundamental, long-term solutions with more synchronous and drastic participation of the political system to solve the bad custom from the root.

From the reality of the area with 3 ethnic groups Thai, Mong, Kho Mu living in 19 villages, of which Mong people account for 90%, the case of boys and girls living together when they are not old enough to get married still often occurs in the villages scattered at the foot of Phuxailaileng mountain (in 2022 there were 22 cases of early marriage, in 2023 it increased to 44 cases), Mr. Vu Ba Ly - Secretary of the Party Committee of Na Ngoi commune said: The local Party Committee and government must persistently coordinate with the local functional branches to stick with the people, stick with the villages to propagate to gradually change the awareness of the people. Because only by changing the way of thinking of the people can we hope to eliminate bad customs.

“In cases of early marriage occurring in the area, in addition to applying administrative sanctions, the commune strictly instructs village officials not to attend weddings of families with children who are married early. Cases of administrative sanctions will be widely reported in village meetings and in the community to remind, deter and prevent similar incidents,” Mr. Vu Ba Ly emphasized.

Chairman of the People's Committee of Huoi Tu Commune (Ky Son) Mua Ba Gio also agreed that: To reduce the situation of early marriage and incestuous marriage, propaganda work is still the core. In particular, it is necessary to promote the role of ethnic minority cadres, village elders, hamlet and village chiefs, prestigious people, heads of clans, mediators, and collaborators at the grassroots level in carrying out propaganda work, mobilizing the implementation of laws on marriage and family right in the village and hamlet.

However, the leader of Huoi Tu commune said, “If we only stop at the administrative fine of 1-2 million VND, it will not be enough of a deterrent. We hope that the authorities can apply measures to prosecute criminal liability and conduct mobile trials according to the law to set an example in a few cases, hoping to create a change in awareness for ethnic minorities.”

Regarding this issue, Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan - Head of the Justice Department of Ky Son district said: The Criminal Law stipulates that sexual intercourse with children under 16 years old is subject to criminal prosecution. In the coming time, along with propaganda and administrative sanctions, the department will advise the district to direct relevant agencies to criminally prosecute a few cases to increase deterrence.

On the side of Ky Son district, Mr. Ly Ba Thai - Standing Deputy Secretary of the District Party Committee said: Along with solutions to promote the economy, society, create jobs and livelihoods for the people, the Party Committee and the government promote the exemplary role of Party members, first of all, key leaders, cadres and civil servants at the commune level in educating children and families to prevent violations of child marriage.

Officials and party members whose children were married off at the beginning of the year were classified as not fulfilling their duties. Heads of local Party committees and authorities must be responsible for the prevention and control of child marriage in their localities. At the same time, responsibility and coordination among all levels and sectors in propaganda, mobilization, and handling of administrative violations regarding child marriage and incestuous marriage in ethnic minority areas must be enhanced.

In addition, the implementation of specific tasks and contents set out in sub-project 2, project 9 on preventing child marriage and consanguineous marriage under the National Target Program on socio-economic development of ethnic minority and mountainous areas is also expected to be a comprehensive solution to change awareness and attract the cooperation of the political system and the social community to push back child marriage in the remote district of Ky Son - an area with 203,409 km of border adjacent to 4 districts and 3 provinces of Laos with 21 communes and towns, including 11 border communes.

Child marriage isillegal behaviorprohibited under item b,Clause 2, Article 5, Law on Marriage and Family 2014.

Hchild marriage, early marriage organizationmay be subject to administrative sanctions according to the provisions of Article 58, Decree No. 82/2020/ND-CP dated July 15, 2020 of the Government on regulations on administrative sanctions in the field of judicial assistance; judicial administration; marriage and family; civil judgment enforcement; bankruptcy of enterprises and cooperatives:

“Article 58. Acts of child marriage and organization of child marriage

1. A fine of 1,000,000 to 3,000,000 VND shall be imposed for organizing marriages for people under the marriageable age.

2. A fine of 3,000,000 to 5,000,000 VND shall be imposed for maintaining an illegal marital relationship with a person under the age of marriage despite a court judgment or decision that has come into legal effect.

In addition, the act of organizing early marriage can also be criminally prosecuted according to the provisions of Article 183 of the 2015 Penal Code (amended and supplemented in 2017):

“Article 183. Crime of organizing child marriage

Anyone who organizes marriages for people under the marriageable age, has been administratively sanctioned for this act and still violates it, shall be subject to a fine of 10,000,000 to 30,000,000 VND or non-custodial reform for up to 02 years.