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Anger At Somalia's New Draft Law Allowing Child, Forced Marriage

Somalia's parliament has replaced long-awaited legislation to protect women and girls from violence with a new bill permitting child and forced marriage, Thomson Reuters reports. In 2018, Somalia's cabinet approved the landmark Sexual Offences bill aimed at criminalising a wide range of forms of gender-based violence including rape, child marriage and sex trafficking. It had been pending before the lower house of parliament for over two years until Saturday, when a new bill, the Sexual Intercourse bill, which allows for girls who reach puberty to be married, was introduced before legislators.

InFocus

Tobin Jones/UN Photo

Women and their children in Somalia.

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