Concerned parties who are conducting an awareness campaign against child marriage have brought to the attention of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli that if the age of marriage in Nepal is reduced from 20 to 18 years, the situation of teenagers will become worse.

Concerned parties working in districts and communities where child marriage is high have submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Oli on Tuesday and demanded to maintain the legal age of marriage at 20 years. The meeting held on January 2 of the sub-committee under the Law, Justice and Human Rights Committee of the House of Representatives brought forward a proposal to reduce the age of marriage from 20 to 18.

It is a well-known fact that 20 years is the ideal age for marriage in Nepal for the balanced development of mental, psycho-social, sexual and reproductive health, physical development and social structure of adolescents. These facts are the same even in the current perspective,'' the memorandum says, 'due to the contribution made by the government itself and various national and international organizations to reduce child marriage, teenagers have been able to enroll at the graduation level after passing at least 12th grade.' On the one hand, there is the problem of increasing unemployment in the country. On the other hand, those who are not physically and mentally mature, marry before they are mature enough to increase their family responsibilities and work load, drop out of school, get pregnant at a young age and become mothers at an immature age,'' the memorandum says, 'because of this, there will be many complications in pregnancy, child and maternal mortality may increase, postpartum depression may increase, the uterus may fall and poverty may increase, so the age limit for marriage was set at 20 years. It is well-known that there has been no miraculous change in this situation and maternal mortality rate is high due to child marriage and reproductive health in Nepal.