Over the last few days, public discourse has been highlighting the practice of child marriage in the country. The discourse was triggered by a Constitutional Court decision.
The Constitutional Court on Thursday (12/13/2018) issued a decision on the minimum marriageable age, regulated as 16 years for women and 19 years for men in Article 7, Paragraph (1) of Law No. 1/1974 on Marriage, did not comply with the Constitution. Its decision stated that minimum marriageable age for men and women were to be the same: 19 years. The House of Representatives (DPR) and the government have been given three years to change the article, after which time the Constitutional Court decision would appliy.
Many factors are behind the large number of child marriages in society. However, the greatest factor is the lack of understanding among parents and in society on children\'s rights. Article 28B, Paragraph (2) of the 1945 Constitution states: "Every child has the right to survival, growth and development, and has the right to protection from violence and discrimination."
There should be no discrimination against children. Moreover, Article 28C of our Constitution also emphasizes that everyone has the right to self-development, an education and benefit from science, technology, art and culture. Education is also the key to overcoming unchecked child marriages in the country.
In addition, Article 6 of Law No. 20/2003 on National Education (Sisdiknas) states that all citizens aged 7-15 years are obliged to obtain basic education. Article 7, Paragraph (2) of the National Education Law states that parents must provide basic education to their children of compulsory school age.
There is no punishment for violating the article on basic education. However, society is obliged to fulfill the mandate for basic education. A civil lawsuit was even filed to extend the years of basic education to 12 years, instead of 9 years of compulsory education, and to extend the compulsory school age from 5-18 years. The Constitutional Court rejected the civil suit in 2015.
However, this does not mean that the Constitutional Court has rejected the public’s desire to extend compulsory basic education to 12 years. The compulsory school age is an open legal policy. Under the National Education Law, society, along with the central and local governments, are obliged to support education without discrimination, including its funding. Society can also set up social education centers.
In order to prevent child marriages and enable Indonesian children to realize a better future for the country, education is important not only for children, but also for parents and society. For the benefit of society, education can be formal or non-formal depending on distinct factors of religion, social environment and culture. The government and citizens must provide adequate supervision to realize efforts to make certain people aware of eliminating, or at least substantially reduce, cases of child marriage in the country. Children have the right to determine their own future.
Law No. 23/2002 on Child Protection clearly states that, in addition to the right to development and education, children are entitled to protection from mistreatment. Early marriage is mistreatment of
children. Whoever the perpetrators are, they need to be made aware of this, including through education. The state must be present.