The United Nations and youth organizations around the world have implored Spain for years to raise their legal minimum age for marriage. The country took heed of the pressure and said the age of marriage would be raised from 14 to 16-years-old. Prior to Thursday’s legislative change, teens who were 14 could marry with permission from a judge. Country officials said they do not have a large population of 14-year-olds who are married.
The change is intended to protect teens, especially girls, from forced marriage that would sexually exploit them. Statistics for weddings in the country showed five teens under the age of 15 married in 2014.
In addition to marriage, the country reformed its sexual relations clause, advising it will change from the age of 13 to 16, after international lawmakers cried out for a change. That aligns Spain with France and Britain, but Germany and Italy still have a legal age of marriage and sexual relations set at 14-years old. Lawmakers advise to marry at the age of 16, it requires legal consent. The legal marrying age without consent remains at 18.
While underage marriages are not problematic in the region currently, in the 1990s, more than 2,600 teens under the age of 16 were consented to marry.
This move was expected to draw ire from the gypsy community where teen marriages were previously done largely. Community leaders rebuke the claim and said things have changed drastically over the past 20 years, and most gypsies are marrying closer to 18.
The United Nations want global leaders to enforce the age of sexual consent and marriage to 18 to reduce the exploitation of girls around the world.