Back to the complete issue
Wednesday, 13 April 2022

Draft bill criminalizing child marriage approved by cabinet

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.

Enterprise is a daily publication of Enterprise Ventures LLC, an Egyptian limited liability company (commercial register 83594), and a subsidiary of Inktank Communications. Summaries are intended for guidance only and are provided on an as-is basis; kindly refer to the source article in its original language prior to undertaking any action. Neither Enterprise Ventures nor its staff assume any responsibility or liability for the accuracy of the information contained in this publication, whether in the form of summaries or analysis. © 2022 Enterprise Ventures LLC.

Enterprise is available without charge thanks to the generous support of HSBC Egypt (tax ID: 204-901-715), the leading corporate and retail lender in Egypt; EFG Hermes (tax ID: 200-178-385), the leading financial services corporation in frontier emerging markets; SODIC (tax ID: 212-168-002), a leading Egyptian real estate developer; SomaBay (tax ID: 204-903-300), our Red Sea holiday partner; Infinity (tax ID: 474-939-359), the ultimate way to power cities, industries, and homes directly from nature right here in Egypt; CIRA (tax ID: 200-069-608), the leading providers of K-12 and higher level education in Egypt; Orascom Construction (tax ID: 229-988-806), the leading construction and engineering company building infrastructure in Egypt and abroad; Moharram & Partners (tax ID: 616-112-459), the leading public policy and government affairs partner; Palm Hills Developments (tax ID: 432-737-014), a leading developer of commercial and residential properties; Mashreq (tax ID: 204-898-862), the MENA region’s leading homegrown personal and digital bank; Industrial Development Group (IDG) (tax ID:266-965-253), the leading builder of industrial parks in Egypt; Hassan Allam Properties (tax ID:  553-096-567), one of Egypt’s most prominent and leading builders; and Saleh, Barsoum & Abdel Aziz (tax ID: 220-002-827), the leading audit, tax and accounting firm in Egypt.