KUALA LUMPUR, July 1 — The National Human Rights Society (Hakam) today called for new legislation to make child marriage illegal.

Hakam president Prof Datuk Gurdial Singh Nijar said it would not be sufficient to merely repeal current laws allowing child marriages, as the act can only be prohibited when it is criminalised.

"There must be laws put in place to eliminate and prohibit child marriage, as such early marriages are a violation of human rights and the Convention on the Rights of a Child especially when Malaysia is a party to the convention,” he said in a statement.

He also called on the Pakatan Harapan government to expedite the implementation of several reforms regarding child marriage as soon as the first parliamentary session starts on July 16.

"Studies have shown that child marriages have devastating consequences especially for girls and the problem of child marriages is not new to Malaysia.

"As early as 2010, the Deputy Minister for Women had revealed that there were close to 15,000 Malaysian girls in child marriages.

"The new government ought to take the initiative to come up with an action plan to protect Malaysian children especially girls from child marriages,” he said.

Gurdial also urged all Malaysians to engage with their respective MPs to gather support for a total ban of child marriages in the country.

Child marriage is currently in the spotlight after a 41-year-old Kelantanese man married an 11-year-old Thai girl in Thailand.

The legal age of marriage for non-Muslims is 18 for both genders, but a girl aged 16 can be legally married if the state chief minister/mentri besar or in the case of the federal territories, its minister, authorises it by granting a licence. However, non-Muslims cannot get married below 16. 

As for Muslims, the minimum legal age for marriage in the states’ Islamic family laws is 18 and 16 for a male and female respectively, but children below these ages can still marry if they get the consent of a Shariah judge. There is no minimum age of marriage.