The Marriage and Civil Partnership (Minimum Age) Act 2022, which received royal assent on April 28, 2022, entered into force in England and Wales on February 27, 2023. The act, which was a private member’s bill that received widespread cross-party support, amends the Marriage Act 1949 and increases the minimum age to marry in England … Continue reading “England and Wales: Legal Age for Marriage Raised from 16 to 18”

On August 24, 2022, Zambia’s president, Hakainde Hichilema, signed into law a comprehensive law governing children, the Children’s Code Act (Act No. 12) of 2022. The act, which includes 19 parts and 198 provisions, provides for a comprehensive legal framework to govern matters affecting children for the first time in the country’s history. It brought … Continue reading “Zambia: Children’s Code Act Enacted”

On September 4, 2022, the Security Directorate of Tobruk, a city on Libya’s eastern Mediterranean coast, announced that it had detained 287 undocumented Egyptian migrants who had illegally crossed the Egyptian-Libyan border. The migrants, many of them children as young as 12 years old, had been locked in a warehouse in the suburbs of Tobruk … Continue reading “Libya: Immigration Authorities Detain Egyptian Minors Smuggled into the Country”

On June 15, 2022, the Diet (Japan’s parliament) passed the Children and Family Agency Establishment Act (Act No. 75 of 2022). The Children and Family Agency will be an external bureau of the Cabinet Office whose function is to oversee policies related to children in the country and their welfare. (Act No. 75, art. 2.) … Continue reading “Japan: Children and Family Agency Establishment Act Adopted”

In July 2022, the Egyptian House of Representatives reviewed two new draft laws that would criminalize the act of forced marriage of a minor and the practice of black magic. Draft Law on Underage Marriage On July 17, 2022, the Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives determined a penalty, under a draft … Continue reading “Egypt: Parliament Reviews Draft Laws Penalizing Forced Marriage of Minors and Practice of Black Magic”