The spokesman for Marriage Celebrants Egypt, Mahmoud Bahi al-Din, called for lowering girls’ marital age for 16, while keeping men’s at 18, after saying that girls “develop” into women at a young age. The issue of underage marriage has been a divisive debate for a long time in Egypt, with the underage marriage being extremely common in rural areas. According to a study conducted by the Women’s Rights Committee, the rates of underage marriage in Egypt are shockingly high, 56 percent in rural areas and 42 percent in cities. In November 2017, parliament began studying making changes to the three laws: ‘The Child Law’, ‘Civil Practice Law’, and ‘The Law for Marriage Celebrants’ Work Organizations’, according to Hesham Helmy, representative of the Ministry of Justice. Parliament is currently drafting another law, requiring marriage celebrants to have access to the national identity cards of both husband and wife before conducting the ceremony.

Source: Egypt Independent January 04, 2018 13:52 UTC