01 June 2011, 10:29
Considering the European experience and taking into account recommendations of the United Nations Committee, People´s Deputies of Ukraine Mykola Tomenko, Viktor Korzh, Yevhen Suslov and Olena Bondarenko registered the bill "On Amendments to the Family Code of Ukraine", which raises the marriage age in Ukraine (Reg. No. 8588).
M.Tomenko, Deputy Chairman of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, stated that the primary goal of the bill is to shape a more civilized and responsible attitude of the young generation to marriage and family relations, which are traditional for Ukrainian society.
Dwelling on the topicality of the bill, the authors reminded that in 1991 Ukraine joined the United Nations Convention on the Rights of a Child, assuming the obligation to protect the rights of children on the national level. However, certain recommendations of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of a Child have not been fully considered yet. The Committee believes that the applicable provision on different marriage age for men (18 years) and women (17 years) is discriminatory. Under the United Nations Convention, an individual is considered a child until 18 years of age, when physical, intellectual and psychological maturity is reached. The attempt to differentiate the marriage age on the basis of sexual maturity seems discriminatory. The authors of the bill believe that both women and men should have equal rights for legal marriage, therefore the bill fixes an equal marriage age for both men and women 18 years of age.