Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with the government of Sudan about raising the legal age of marriage in that country from 10 to 18 in order to comply with international standards of child rights.

There is a discrepancy between the Sudanese Child Act of 2010, under which anyone under the age of 18 is considered to be a child, and religious law, under which anyone under the age of 11 is considered to be a child. Along with the Sudanese National Council for Child Welfare (NCCW), we have lobbied the Government to ensure compliance with the Child Act and the removal of any discrepancies which lead to under-age children being married.

Broader work on child rights forms part of a programme supported by DFID, and run by UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), which focuses on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). This programme has included a workshop on reaching a national position on the legal age of marriage. DFID is also providing funding to UNICEF’s Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), which will include data on the percentage of women who were married by the time they reached 18. The findings of that survey, which will report by the end of 2014, will inform our discussions with the Government of Sudan.

DFID worked closely with the NCCW to ensure that the Government was represented at the Girl Summit which took place in London in July, and which had a particular focus on FGM and Child and Forced Marriage (CEFM). We welcome the Government of Sudan’s subsequent signature of the Girl Summit Charter, which includes a public commitment to ending CEFM. We are actively following up with the Government of Sudan to ensure that they maintain momentum on these issues.