We could finally get a law that criminalizes child marriage: The cabinet has approved a draft bill that would, if passed, criminalize child marriage and hand out jail terms and fines for people found guilty of violating the act, it said in a statement following its weekly meeting yesterday. ِIn the first legislation of its kind, the bill would prohibit marriage of anyone under the age of 18 and require marriage officiants to notify prosecutors of any common-law marriage — also known in Arabic as orfi marriage — that involves a child.

Violators of the law are subject to jail terms + fines: Those who marry or are involved in the marriage of a child under 18 will face at least one year in jail and a fine of EGP 50k-200k. Family courts could remove guardianship of children in cases where family members are convicted. The same penalties would be imposed against those encouraging child marriage, the statement said, adding that children involved would not be held accountable. Marriage officiants who fail to inform the prosecution would receive a minimum six months in jail and an EGP 20k-50k fine.

Stats on child marriage in Egypt are hard to come by: One of the most recent was in 2017 when state statistics agency Capmas said that more than 117k children under 17 are married each year. The Cairo-based Forum for Development and Human Rights Dialogue argues that the real number could be three times higher.

What’s next for the bill: The usual, we presume — the bill will make its way on to the House of Representatives for debate and amendments.

ALSO FROM THE MEETING-

More infrastructure ahead of COP 27. Cabinet has approved extending the validity of renovation permits for several hotel projects in Sharm El Sheikh and Nabq until the beginning of October. The extension would allow resorts to continue renovating existing facilities ahead of the COP 27 summit in November. Some hotels are being converted to run on solar power ahead of the conference.