The legal age of marriage for women should be raised from 16 to 18, just as it is for men, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lin Ching-yi (林靜儀) said at a legislative question-and-answer session on Tuesday.
Describing Taiwan’s laws as “highly discriminatory and a legal relic from the 1930s,” Lin said that under the Civil Code, the minimum age for engaging in a marriage contract is 15 for women and 17 for men, while the legal age of marriage is 16 for women and 18 for men.
She said that distinguishing civil rights by gender symbolizes inequality.
The UN International Bill of Human Rights defines people under 18 as children, and as a result the WHO and the UN Children’s Fund enacted international laws that forbid child marriage, Lin added.
The Ministry of Justice since 2011 has attempted to draft a legal amendment to bring gender equality to the age of marriage, and a governmental committee on the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women had also recommended legal amendments, but their efforts have repeatedly failed, Lin said.
The age of marriage under Taiwanese law constitutes gender discrimination and child marriage which are forbidden under international law, Lin said, adding: “Society has moved on; the laws are not in line with the needs of a modern society.”
Minister of Justice Chiu Tai-san (邱太三) said that the ministry had tried to draft a bill to amend the laws during the previous legislative session, but its efforts were bogged down in a review committee amid disagreements between its members and consulting academics.
The legislator asked Premier Lin Chuan (林全) to fulfill the nation’s commitment to bring its laws in line with international human-rights standards.
Lin Chuan said that the current laws “have room for critique,” and that he wants to work toward that goal with the consensus of lawmakers.
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
Ferry operators are planning to provide a total of 1,429 journeys between Taiwan proper and its offshore islands to meet increased travel demand during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, the Maritime and Port Bureau said yesterday. The available number of ferry journeys on eight routes from Saturday next week to Feb. 2 is expected to meet a maximum transport capacity of 289,414 passengers, the bureau said in a news release. Meanwhile, a total of 396 journeys on the "small three links," which are direct ferries connecting Taiwan's Kinmen and Lienchiang counties with China's Fujian Province, are also being planned to accommodate
RSS