The arduous fight against child marriage in the remote district.
(Baonghean.vn) - To prevent child marriage, since 2023, Ky Son district has combined propaganda work with the implementation of administrative penalties for violations. However, behind the misty villages, illegal marriages between "child" parents still take place.
Administrative penalties continue to increase.
We met young woman Luong Thi B., from Phia Kham 2 village, Bac Ly commune (Ky Son district), in a makeshift shack in the livestock farming 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 her pregnant belly nearing childbirth, B. sat quietly by the fireplace in the corner of the house. After a moment of hesitation and reserve, the Khơ Mú ethnic girl recounted how she met her husband, Ven Văn Đ. (born in 2005), through Facebook and moved to Khánh Thành village in 2022 when she was only 16 years old. Because they were not yet of legal marriage age, they had not held a wedding ceremony or informed the authorities.
In the mountainous district of Kỳ Sơn, cases of child marriage like that of Lương Thị B. are quite common, concentrated in the villages of the Hmong ethnic group, with some cases even involving marriages at the young age of 13-14.
According to Ms. Vu Y Nai, Chairwoman of the Women's Association of Nam Can commune: Although the government has established a Steering Committee to implement the Project "Reducing Child Marriage and Consanguineous Marriage"; actively coordinating with relevant agencies and schools to focus on propaganda, mobilization, and signing commitments not to violate child marriage regulations for households and students, and Nam Can is also the first unit in Ky Son district to pilot administrative penalties, child marriage still recurs. In 2022, the entire commune had 17 cases of child marriage, while in 2023 there were 19 cases, of which 11 cases were subject to administrative penalties.
A similar situation is occurring in Huoi Tu commune, where four ethnic groups – Mong, Thai, Kinh, and Kho Mu – live, with the Mong people accounting for 97%. Mr. Mua Ba Gio, Chairman of the Commune People's Committee, said: In 2023, the Commune People's Committee assigned officials to conduct awareness campaigns, sign commitments, and review and compile statistics on child marriage and consanguineous marriage in all 13 villages. They also sent invitations to households with children involved in child marriages to be subject to administrative penalties.
Most recently, on October 3, 2023, the Chairman of the People's Committee of Huoi Tu commune issued an administrative penalty decision against Mr. Vu Va Nenh, born in 1986, residing in Pha Xac village, Huoi Tu commune, with a fine of 2 million VND for his daughter, Vu Y M., born in 2007, getting married before reaching the legal age for marriage.
However, the rate of child marriage has not decreased (16 cases in 2021, 26 cases in 2022, and as many as 36 cases in Huoi Tu commune in 2023). The People's Committee of the commune has issued fines to 14 cases totaling 28,000,000 VND (22 cases remain unpunished because the citizens are working far away and cannot be contacted).
Visiting Pha Bun village, when asked about the situation of child marriage, the village head, Ho Tong Lau, sighed: "The officials and the village management board have done a lot of campaigning, but it's very difficult. Boys and girls fall in love in school and then live together, and then they fall into a vicious cycle of poverty. Parents can't stop them."
In 2023, the village had 3 cases of child marriage. The village management board, in collaboration with the head of the clan, had great difficulty persuading one 17-year-old to abandon his intention to marry because he was not yet of legal marriage age.
In Tay Son commune, the Party Secretary Vu Va Renh also stated: On average, the commune directs 3-4 awareness campaigns annually, reaching every village and hamlet in both the common language and the local dialect, combined with strict penalties for violations according to the law. Accordingly, households with children involved in child marriage are fined from 1-2 million VND, while Party members and officials whose children are involved in child marriage are fined 3 million VND as an example, but the reality is that child marriage has not decreased. In 2022, there were 21 cases of child marriage, and in 2023 up to the present time, there have been 24 cases.
Recognizing 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 the Ky Son District Party Committee issued Directive No. 07 CT/HU on strengthening the leadership of Party committees at all levels in the work of preventing and combating child marriage and consanguineous marriage in the district.
The District People's Committee issued Official Document No. 614/UBND dated July 21, 2022, to disseminate legal information on preventing child marriage and raise awareness of compliance with laws on marriage and family with many solutions, including directing the establishment of clubs and models for preventing child marriage in villages.
In 2023, to enhance deterrence, the Department of Justice advised the District People's Committee to issue Official Letter No. 445 UBND-TP on administrative penalties for child marriage violations. This letter required communes to inspect and review cases of child marriage violations from January 1, 2023 to the present; and to impose administrative penalties according to Clause 1, Article 58, Decree 82/2020/NĐ-CP. However, the situation of child marriage has not shown any signs of decreasing.
Over the three years from 2020 to 2022, Ky Son district recorded over 516 cases of child marriage and 11 cases of consanguineous marriage. In 2023 alone, from January to September, there were 235 cases of child marriage, concentrated mainly in the communes of Na Ngoi, Huoi Tu, Nam Can, Dooc May, Nam Can, etc.
Many difficulties
According to Mr. Ho Ba Rua, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Huoi Tu commune, the reasons leading to child marriage are the low level of education, limited legal awareness; deeply ingrained customs and traditions in the community, and the belief that early marriage is necessary to have more laborers in the family.
Furthermore, due to difficult living conditions, parents are preoccupied with making a living and do not pay enough attention to the psychological and emotional well-being of their children as they enter adolescence; the situation of children dropping out of school or failing to receive an education still occurs, leading to early marriage.
On the other hand, with the development of the Internet, young people in mountainous areas have easier access to unhealthy information and images on social media, so the trend of premarital pregnancy is on the rise.
Having been involved in the propaganda work against child marriage for many years, Ms. Mua Y Ly, a Mong ethnic woman and judicial officer in Tay Son commune, shared: "Young couples often don't register their marriage at the commune People's Committee but live together until they reach the legal age to register. In many cases, the Party committee and local authorities have promptly detected the situation and directly visited the homes to remind them and record administrative violations, but things often go back to how they were before because the mindset of 'if they don't allow it, we'll take it' is deeply ingrained in the children's thinking, and to some extent, there is also the compromise of the community where they live."
"According to Hmong custom, young men and women usually live together for three days before holding a wedding ceremony. By the time the authorities find out, it's already too late. In some cases, when prevented from getting married, they even threaten to commit suicide by eating poisonous leaves."
"Getting married and having children before reaching the legal age not only endangers the health of both mother and child but also affects the rights of the children. Without a marriage certificate, the authorities cannot issue birth certificates for them, and they are not entitled to health insurance benefits or free health insurance as stipulated by law," said Ms. Mua Y Ly.
According to the head of the district's Justice Department, besides the influence of outdated customs and traditions, and the limited level of education, awareness, and legal consciousness among the majority of the population, it must be acknowledged that the dissemination and education of law, as well as the development of content and topics on marriage and family, sex education, and adolescent reproductive health for students in schools in the district, are still limited.
On the other hand, the intervention and administrative penalties imposed by local authorities on cases of child marriage are sometimes lacking in decisiveness; and there is also a tendency to be lenient due to binding relationships within the community and kinship, which are also reasons why the work of preventing and reducing child marriage has not been effective.
Child marriageThis refers to getting married when one or both parties have not reached the legally required age for marriage.Article 8 of the Law on Marriage and Family stipulates, specifically Clause 1, Article 8.nMen and women who marry each other must comply with the following conditions:
a) Males aged 20 years and older, females aged 18 years and older;
b) Marriage is a voluntary decision made by both the man and the woman;
c) Not having lost their civil capacity;
d) The marriage does not fall under any of the prohibited cases of marriage as stipulated 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 registration. Marriages that are not registered in accordance with this provision have no legal validity.
We need to address the root cause.
Child marriage not only goes against the human spirit as stipulated in Clause 2, Article 17 of the 1992 Constitution and the Central Secretariat's directive in Directive 6-CT/TW dated June 24, 2021, on strengthening the Party's leadership over family building in the new situation, but it is also a violation of the law, leaving many negative consequences for families and society.
Therefore, to prevent the problem of child marriage, the mountainous district of Ky Son needs fundamental, long-term solutions with more coordinated and decisive involvement from the political system to address the outdated custom at its root.
Based on the reality of the area, where three ethnic groups – Thai, Mong, and Khmu – live in 19 villages, with the Mong ethnic group accounting for 90%, and where cases of young men and women living together before reaching the legal marriage age are still common in the scattered villages at the foot of Phuxailaileng mountain (22 cases of child marriage in 2022, increasing to 44 cases in 2023), Mr. Vu Ba Ly, Secretary of the Party Committee of Na Ngoi commune, believes that: Local Party committees and authorities must persistently coordinate with relevant agencies in the area to stay close to the people and villages to gradually change their perceptions. Because only by changing the mindset of the people can we hope to eradicate outdated customs.
“Regarding cases of child marriage occurring in the area, in addition to applying administrative penalties, the commune instructs village officials not to attend weddings of families with children who have married underage. Cases that have been subject to administrative penalties will be widely publicized in village meetings and within the community to remind, deter, and prevent similar incidents,” Mr. Vu Ba Ly emphasized.
The Chairman of the People's Committee of Huoi Tu commune (Ky Son district), Mua Ba Gio, also agreed that: To minimize child marriage and consanguineous marriage, propaganda remains the core. In particular, the role of ethnic minority officials, village elders, hamlet leaders, influential people, heads of clans, mediators, and collaborators at the grassroots level should be promoted in carrying out propaganda and mobilization work to implement laws on marriage and family right in the villages.
However, the leaders of Huoi Tu commune stated, "If the penalties are limited to administrative fines of 1-2 million VND, it will not be enough to deter offenders. We hope that the authorities can apply measures to prosecute criminal responsibility and conduct mobile trials in accordance with the law for a few cases to set an example, only then can we hope to create a change in awareness among ethnic minority people."
Regarding this issue, Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan, Head of the Justice Department of Ky Son District, said: The Criminal Law stipulates that the act of sexual intercourse with a child under 16 years old is subject to criminal prosecution. In the coming time, along with propaganda and administrative penalties, the department will advise the district to direct relevant agencies to criminally prosecute a few cases to increase deterrence.
Regarding Ky Son district, Mr. Ly Ba Thai, Permanent Deputy Secretary of the District Party Committee, stated: Along with solutions to promote economic and social development, create jobs and livelihoods for the people, the Party committee and government emphasize the exemplary role of Party members, first and foremost the key leaders, officials, and civil servants at the commune level, in educating their children and families to prevent violations related to child marriage.
Party members and officials whose children are involved in child marriages will be rated as failing to fulfill their duties at the end of the year. Heads of Party committees and local governments at the grassroots level must take responsibility for the prevention and control of child marriage in their localities. At the same time, the responsibility and coordination of all levels and sectors in propaganda, mobilization, and handling of administrative violations related to child marriage and consanguineous marriage in ethnic minority areas must be enhanced.
Furthermore, 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 for socio-economic development in ethnic minority and mountainous areas is also expected to be a comprehensive solution to change perceptions and attract the joint efforts of the political system and the community to combat child marriage in Ky Son district, a highland area with 203.409 km of border shared with 4 districts and 3 provinces of neighboring Laos, encompassing 21 communes and towns, including 11 border communes.
Child marriage isillegal behaviorprohibited under section b,Clause 2, Article 5, Law on Marriage and Family 2014.
Hchild marriage, child marriage organizationThey may be subject to administrative penalties as stipulated in Article 58 of Government Decree No. 82/2020/ND-CP dated July 15, 2020, on regulations for administrative penalties in the fields of legal assistance; judicial administration; marriage and family; civil enforcement; and corporate and cooperative bankruptcy.
Article 58. Acts of child marriage and organizing child marriage.
1. A fine of between VND 1,000,000 and VND 3,000,000 shall be imposed for the act of organizing marriages for individuals who have not reached the legal age for marriage.
2. A fine of VND 3,000,000 to VND 5,000,000 shall be imposed for the act of maintaining an unlawful marital relationship with a person who has not reached the legal age for marriage, despite a legally effective judgment or decision of the Court.
Furthermore, the act of organizing child marriage can also be subject to criminal prosecution under Article 183 of the 2015 Penal Code (amended and supplemented in 2017):
Article 183. The crime of organizing child marriage
Anyone who organizes marriages for individuals who have not reached the legal age for marriage, and who has already been fined for this offense but continues to violate the law, shall be fined from 10,000,000 to 30,000,000 VND or sentenced to non-custodial correctional labor for up to 2 years.