Deputy Chief of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) Lestari Moerdijat has appealed to  stakeholders to pay serious attention to the rise in early marriage cases so that the quality of Indonesia’s human resources can continue to improve to answer the nation’s challenges in the future.

“In the midst of efforts to make this nation have an advantage over other nations, the rise of child marriage cases in the country must draw serious attention from stakeholders,” Moerdijat, said in a written statement here on Sunday.

Data from UNICEF prior to the COVID-19 pandemic estimated that over the next 10 years, 100 million children in the world would be subjected to forced marriage. This figure was predicted to increase by up to 10 percent from the current data.

Moerdijat listed a number of factors which contribute to the high rate of child marriage cases in Indonesia. Among them are inadequate level of education, low socioeconomic status, and relatively little information about the risks of early marriage, as well as misconceptions about early marriage which spread rampantly on social media.

She opined that everyone must immediately put on strategic measures to address the issue of child marriage which was raised by the many factors she had listed.

“Apart from affecting the nation’s future due to the disruption of efforts to improve the quality of human resources, marriage of children under 19 years old is a violation of the law,” Moerdijat reminded.

She stressed that the practice was not in accordance with Law Number 16 of 2019 concerning Amendments to Law Number 1 of 1974 regarding Marriage.

On the other hand, child marriage posed risks to the health of young mothers and their children, she said adding it could also affect their psychological well-being.

She deemed the high health risk in child marriage should be a reason for the stakeholders to immediately combat this threat through massive and sustainable efforts to resolve the triggering factors.

Source: Antara News