The Congress of Chiapas approved a series of reforms to the Penal Code on forced cohabitation, which prohibits child marriages
This Friday, January 30, the Congress of the State of Chiapas approved reforms to the Penal Code on forced cohabitation, with the purpose of “eradicating forced informal unions, especially in indigenous peoples and communities that carry out this practice under the ‘uses and customs'”
It should be noted that Chiapas is one of the largest states with the highest volume of underage mothers and the highest number of births of mothers between 10 and 14 years of age, with 826 registered since 2021.
Chiapas will punish child marriages and unions: How many years in prison will there be for those who incur in this crime?
During the session held this Friday, Deputy Rosa Linda López Sánchez, president of the Gender Equality Commission, mentioned that the modifications include penalties of 8 to 15 years in prison and from one thousand to 2,500 days of minimum wages of fine. These will increase when the victim belongs to indigenous or Afro-Mexican communities.
“The state Congress attends to one of the most heartfelt citizen demands, which will penalize anyone who forces, coerces, induces, requests, manages or offers a minor or who does not have the capacity to understand the fact, to live informally with another person,” Deputy Rosa Linda López Sánchez
In the opinion approved by a majority with 37 votes in favor, one against and two absences, it is also indicated that the crime will be prosecuted ex officio. Where the Chiapas Penal Code was reformed, in chapter II Ter, called forced cohabitation of persons under 18 years of age or of persons who do not have the capacity to understand the meaning of the act or of persons who do not have the capacity to resist it.
Why do child marriages occur in Mexico?
According to a report by the Federal Government, child marriages are understood as formal or informal unions in which at least one of the spouses is under 18 years of age, this practice violates the human rights of children and adolescents, especially girls and adolescents, who are deprived of their age and exposed to greater risks of violence. early pregnancy, school dropout and poverty.
Their economic and health expectations are lower than those of girls and adolescents who do not marry, which is eventually passed on to their own children and further undermines a country’s ability to provide quality health and education services.
This problem focuses mainly on indigenous and rural communities, which are governed by uses and customs, where they are practiced for cultural, economic or religious reasons, which makes them a normalized phenomenon. This is so for a variety of reasons, including:
- The wide gap of social inequality. Without work or education, minors opt for marriage as a way to achieve some economic stability.
- The poverty that leads families to marry or sell their daughters to obtain an income, reduce the economic burden of their support or pay off debts.
- Gender inequality: machismo imposes different roles and expectations for girls and boys.
- Social and cultural norms that establish that girls should marry at an early age to secure their future, preserve their honour or comply with the traditions of their community.
- Lack of education, which limits the opportunities and rights of girls and adolescents and makes them more vulnerable to child marriage.
- Armed conflicts and the actions of organized crime, which generate situations of displacement, insecurity and violence that can push girls and adolescents to seek or accept protection in marriage.
Source: Eje Central
