The Saudi Ministry of Justice has today made the statement that the marriage of individuals less than 18 years will be prohibited.
18 years has also been set as the minimum age for marriage, according to the Saudi Gazette
The Minister of Justice and Chairman of the Supreme Judicial Council, Sheikh Walid Al-Samaani, gave out the new order in a circular delivered to all the courts in The KSA.
Prior to this order, child marriages have been conventional in Saudi Arabia with one in seven girls getting married before the age of 18. Saudi Arabia’s minister of justice is bringing a change to this.
In the circular given out today, the minister emphasized that marriage requests are to be brought up to the specific court to complete the official procedure according to the Child Protection Law and while carrying out the customary principles.
Mr Al-Samaani’s directives state “before conducting marriage contracts one has to make sure that marrying a person under the age of 18 will not harm him or her and achieve their best interests, male or female.”
This has been done before as well that the Saudi authorities would move to restriction and brings regulation to the matter of underage marriages in the country.
According to Arab News, during the beginning of this year, Saudi Arabia officially agreed to rules that forbid marriage for children less than 15 years of age.
