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Campaigners have hailed a new law raising the legal age of marriage in England<\/a> and Wales as a significant milestone in child protection.<\/p>\n The Marriage and Civil Partnership (Minimum Age) Act<\/a> comes into force on Monday following a five-year campaign and will prevent 16- and 17-year-olds from marrying or entering a civil partnership, even if they have parental consent.<\/p>\n Campaigners have long argued that a legal loophole allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to marry with parental consent was being exploited<\/a> to coerce young people into child marriage.<\/p>\n The law makes it illegal to arrange for a child to marry, whether or not force is used and regardless of whether the marriage is religious or legally recognised, with the new criminal offence carrying a sentence of up to seven years in prison. The law, which will not change the age of marriage in Scotland or Northern Ireland, will automatically recognise children married under the age of 18 as victims of forced marriage.<\/p>\n Pauline Latham, the Conservative MP who spearheaded the law<\/a> with a private member\u2019s bill called it a \u201clandmark day for campaigners who have worked relentlessly for over five years to ban child marriage in this country\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cChild marriage destroys lives and through this legislation we will protect millions of boys and girls over the coming years from this scourge,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The UN is pushing for every country to end child marriage by 2030<\/a>. The practice often sees girls leave education early and suffer domestic abuse and is associated with serious physical and mental health problems<\/a>.<\/p>\n Previously, forced marriage was only an offence if a person used coercion, such as threats, to get someone to marry, but now causing the marriage of someone under the age of 18 is a criminal offence, including non-legally binding \u201ctraditional\u201d ceremonies, which would still be viewed as marriages by the parties and their families.<\/p>\n Payzee Mahmod, who was born in Kurdistan and came to the UK at the age of 11, was married at 16 to a man nearly twice her age. Her sister, Banaz, who was married at 17, was murdered in a so-called \u201chonour\u201d killing in 2006. Now a campaigner for the IKWRO<\/a> women\u2019s rights organisation, Mahmod told the Guardian<\/a> in 2020 that her sister \u201cwas forced into a child marriage to a stranger and there was no law to protect her\u201d.<\/p>\n