CHILD marriage allowed paedophiles to get away with rape and sexual abuse of minors, said a children’s welfare group.

Project Layang Layang committee member Azira Aziz said the guise of such a marriage prevented predators from being punished for statutory rape or child sex abuse. 

“Child marriage is not a question of religion or culture, but of protecting minors.

“There have been cases where the child is raped and then gets married off (to the rapist).

“Basically when this happens, the welfare of the child is not considered and the welfare of the rapist comes first,” she said, after a human rights forum at the MCCHR community centre in Jalan Pantai Baru, Kuala Lumpur, yesterday evening. 

A 41-year-old man in Kelantan recently made headlines and sparked outrage when he was reported to have taken a 11-year-old girl for a wife.

There were 10,000 cases of underage Muslim marriages in the past decade, with Sarawak seeing the most of these cases, according to Deputy Women, Family and Community Development Minister Hannah Yeoh. 

Projek Layang-Layang is formed by a group of Malaysians to educate adults on how to protect children again sex abuse.

Azira said it was important for society to be educated on the issue of child marriage to safeguard the children.

About 70 people attended the forum organised by the United Kingdom and Eire Malaysian Law Students Union. 

At the forum, Yayasan Chow Kit founder Dr Hartini Zainudin said it was not difficult for Putrajaya to ban child marriage.

“The government needs to revisit and discuss the issue honestly and openly,” she said, adding that it should be treated as a matter of child protection.

National Human Rights Society of Malaysia member Lim Wei Jiet said it was up to the authorities to take the “most important” step of enforcing the laws against rape and abuse of minors.

“Parliament has passed a law with the explicit message that we cannot tolerate sexual abuses,” he said.

“The authorities should respect the law and they should enforce it.” – August 25, 2018.