Pot calling kettle

A 16 year old marrying a 58 year old is a victim of abuse. We should not pretend otherwise.

A 16 year old in another country us likely to have children who are almost ready to marry off.
That's one difference..

i don't think many people are overly concerned about 16 year olds in other countries, aside from the concern to stand against coercion, of course.
what is a true evil is young girls being married off, without any say in it, usually much younger than 16.
obvious children.
what leads you to think 16 year olds being able to marry here is a problem.

I'm saying that a child is a child. What's the difference between a 16 year old in the UK and a 16 year old in another country?

Was grannyactivist a silly sixteen? I don't think so.

Rather old fashioned perhaps. But what caring parent would agree to a silly sixteen year old marrying. Married life is difficult enough without encouraging this silly romantic nonsense.

what exactly is the evil you are trying to remedy, in this country , OP ?

When I got married, aged 16, I had been working for a full year, was a dab hand at cooking, cleaning, shopping and caring for my younger siblings. I had not been a 'child' for a very long time. In fact when I had my first baby three years later I was often called upon to give advice to my much older neighbours.

I don't advocate teens getting married, but our laws do provide some protections for young people. Girls in other cultures/countries don't have similar protections and therefore anything that can be done to help them from being used as 'chattels' is surely a good thing.

"Child marriage is a human rights violation. Despite laws against it, the practice remains widespread: Globally, one in every five girls is married, or in union, before reaching age 18"
www.unicef.org/stories/child-marriage-around-world

Not all child marriages are with very young girls. Most of them are older teenagers. No one should get married before the age of 18. Under 18s are not adults and cannot consent to any form of legally binding contract. We must campaign for an end to all child marriage not just those that take place in other countries.

I agree @Iam64

When I was 15 I was commuting to work , had two jobs and was paying my own way. No one was treating me as a child because I wasn't one. My parents also started work at 15 so thought it was normal.

I agree, it would be uncomfortable if you had a UK teenager who chose to marry a 58 year old! But that would be the teenagers choice and as parents you would have to accept free will.

An 8 year old is extremely vulnerable, cannot choose, is not even of reproductive age and should be allowed to play and be a kid. These kids need help.

vampire queen, your OP has prompted an interesting discussion so that is good. I've tried but so far failed to understand what you're wanting when you say we should continue to campaign against child marriage "but sort ourselves out at the same time".

I'm still stuck in the point I made earlier. A 16 year old who grew up in this country and wants to marry her boy friend (or girl friend) is in an incomparable situation with a 7 year old in a third world country entering a forced marriage with a much older man.

I am saying that we should campaign for all children so yes keep campaigning abroad but sort ourselves out at the same time.

I've been noting all the excuses in this discussion:

Charity begins at home!

Should 16-18 year olds get married?

Will my donation be 'wasted' on salaries and advertisements?

hmm - all 'reasons' to ignore the adverts?

and yet, yes, we do all know about it, and those who still do nothing feel uncomfortable. We can't help but realise that a little girl is so much safer in the UK.

That's true that it has to be big to make a difference and also it shows the TV advert works and has made an impact because here we are discussing it and everyone knows about it.

I hope they raise lots of money to give those girls a better life. No female should go through FGM or be sold to an old man in a forced marriage.

There is quite a bit of difference between a ten year old in Africa being sold into an arranged marriage (and forced to undergo Female Genital Mutilation beforehand plus probably being systematically raped after marriage) and a 16 year old choosing to get married in the UK with their parents permission. Also, at Gretna Green in Scotland, sixteen year olds can get married without parental consent anyway. Since when has sixteen been regarded as childhood? I had a full time job at fifteen as many people also did.

I agree with the comment about charities needing to employ expert fundraisers, and therefore needing to pay for that expertise.

A small charity such as a local fundraiser can get by with well-meaning volunteers running cake bakes and sponsored walks, but when you need enough funds to build wells or educate children, that's just not going to be enough, and a TV ad can reach hundreds of thousands of people to spread the message of the campaign.

When it comes to collecting money, again they need professionals, who command professional salaries. It's a shame that so many people object to this and withdraw their support when they find out that not every penny goes direct to the cause.

meant to say, some sort of slavery.

the reality of life in many poorer countries, esp for girls and women is often only a precarious step above some of of slavery.
by comparison i don't see the present law here re marriage as a problem, certainly not a priority.

The issue really is about who “owns” the girls body. Whether she is being treated as a chattel, over which a contract whether verbal or written is done.

To my mind it is almost like slavery.

Lavazzalst you comment "But realistically, it's costing a lot just to advertise on TV- and then someone's probably earning a salary or two."

is true to a point but nowadays charities are big business and need to be professionally run. They cannot be volunteer led. I agree the high salaries seem out of keeping but , rather like I said on another thread capitalism creates these situations where to get people who will improve the work of the charity you need to pay a salary to attract highly experienced people. Most charities will be able to demonstrate that a TV advert promotion brought in significantly more funds than the cost of the advert.

since the age of consent is 16, marriage, with parents' consent in england and wales, also had to be possible at 16, to avoid the possibility of illegitimacy.
in such cases it was thought that parents would readily agree to the marriage, but otherwise probably not.
attitudes have changed over time, and illegitimacy is not viewed as it previously was.
bearing in mind that parents' consent is needed for 16/17 marriage, i don't think it is a much of a problem.
i can't comment on scottish law and practice.

Those adverts do promote education about girls rights as well as the right not to be a child bride, like the right not to have to get FGM. I am always skeptical about charities in case most of the money doesn't get to where it's needed them most.

FGM is wrong and child marriage is wrong. If a significant amount of money is going to the charity and helping those kids, good. But realistically, it's costing a lot just to advertise on TV- and then someone's probably earning a salary or two.

Child marriage like child prostitutes is just a way of covering for the vile men who want to use wee girls.A CHILD cant consent to marriage nor can she consent to sex with a "client" both are clearly abuse
.A 16 year old is deemed to be able to make her own mind up..well nowadays,not that many years ago shotgun weddings happened a lot when the girl got pregnant .The age of responsibility ,criminal or otherwise is about 10 isn't it? Used to be 8 in Scotland

vampirequeen, yes, of course we should change our law to allow marriage for over eighteens only.

However, I think the 'put own house in order' argument is always a total cop out. Nothing is stopping us taking action on all child marriage - at the same time.

You can't directly compare the two situations either. There is the important matter of consent.

At work, I've been involved in safeguarding a girl who was being forced to 'holiday' (get married) by her parents. The police were involved.

The TV adverts involve little girls as young as eight - who don't have the choice to decline. We are talking about child rape. Of course we need to reduce and stop it asap.

Support charities, sponsor a girl, do whatever you can to bring change to the world - then the adverts won't prick your conscience, make you feel so guilty or uncomfortable.

I know a lot of couples who were married at 16,most of them are still together 20 or 30 years on.One couple got married the day after she left school at 16 and we met them recently out celebrating their 36th wedding anniversary.It was quite normal in Scotland for 16 year olds to get wed right up until the late 80's or early 90's .No one batted an eyelid at it

It might make more sense to unify the age of consent, the age of marriage without parents consent, the age of criminal responsibilty, the school-leaving age and the voting age all at sixteen.