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Follow on Google News |  Muslims For Progressive Values Advocates Against "child Marriage" In CaliforniaSenator Hill's bill will close loopholes, requiring the Judicial Council to track and post the number of underaged marriages granted and denied. Closing those loopholes would align California closer to International Standards. According to Anthony Lake, Executive Director of UNICEF, "Child marriage is not only wrong, it is dangerous." Our nation's State Department considers marriage before age eighteen to be a "human rights abuse." As a faith-based human rights organization, our stance is based on a clear Islamic mandate that marriage is between two consenting adults of sound mind. The Quran gives women the last say on who and when they marry and, yet, some Muslim parents have utilized this loophole forcing their child into marriages from a twisted cultural and tribal spin in the name of Islam, As a Muslim organization, we are appalled that a progressive State such as California and a developed country like the United States could be negligent in protecting the human rights of children. According to a recent Pew study, California is ranked sixth in the nation per capita of 15-17 year old marriages. Every 5.5 teenagers, ages 15-17 is married out of 1,000 resulting in desperate situations for many. Child marriage is proven to lead to increased dropout rates, teen pregnancies, and, in too many cases, lifelong poverty. With minimal access to police services, domestic violence shelters, and lawyers, the minor is automatically at a disadvantage if the contract signed with an adult goes wrong, as often happens. The majority of such marriages occur between an adult male and an underage girl and approximately 70-80% end in divorce, often leaving the child of the marriage at an educational and societal disadvantage. Although this Senate Bill does not go far enough in protecting underaged children into forced marriage, it is a start. The bill will go under review by the CA Senate Appropriations Committee on May 22. MPV encourages all supporters of children's' rights and opponents of child and forced marriage to contact the members of this committee, either by phone or in writing. (They are listed below, for your convenience.) The time to act is now. The state of California needs to do more to protect girls and boys from the harms of underage marriage. We invite you to read MPV's position on women and girls' rights (http://www.mpvusa.org/ ### SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE MEMBERS Chair- Senator Ricardo Lara (D) State Capitol, Room 5050 – Senate District 33 Phone number: (916) 651-4033 Sacramento, CA 95814 Website: http://sd33.senate.ca.gov/ Vice Chair- Senator Patricia Bates (R) State Capitol, Room 305 – Senate District 36 Sacramento, California 95814 Phone: (916) 651-4036 Fax: (916) 651-4936 Website: http://district36.cssrc.us/ Senator Jim Beall (D) State Capitol, Room 2082 – Senate District 15 Sacramento, CA 95814 Phone: (916) 651-4015 Fax:(916) 651-4915 Website: http://sd15.senate.ca.gov/ Senator Steven Bradford (D) State Capitol, Room 2062 – Senate District 35 Sacramento, CA 95814 Phone: (916) 651-4035 Fax: (916) 651-4935 Website: http://sd35.senate.ca.gov/ Senator Jerry Hill (D) BILL'S AUTHOR State Capitol, Room 5035 – Senate District 13 Sacramento, CA 95814 Phone: (916) 651-4013 Fax: (916) 651-4913 Website: http://sd13.senate.ca.gov/ Senator Jim Nielsen (R) State Capitol, Room 2068 – Senate District 4 Sacramento, CA 95814 Phone: (916) 651-4004 Fax: (916) 651-4904 Email: http://nielsen.cssrc.us/ Senator Scott Wiener (D) State Capitol—Senate District 11 Room 4066 Sacramento, CA 95814-4900 (916) 651-4011 website: http://sd11.senate.ca.gov/ End
Page Updated Last on: May 22, 2017
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