A Comparative Case Study of the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on the Protection Against Child Marriage

Abstract

Child marriage is a major cause of physical and psychological problems for children. Child marriage not only allows physical abuse, rape, health complications and torture; it permanently deprives a girl of her rights to self-autonomy. For instance, child marriage denies a girl the right to education and to select a life partner at the right age, thus perpetuating a culture of poverty that leads to continued child marriages due to poverty. The objective of this current thesis study is to conduct a comparative analysis of legal frameworks to prevent child marriage in the United Kingdom (UK) and Saudi Arabia. The primary goal of this study is to analyse whether the laws in these two countries follow international standards. This study adopted a mixed-method study using the ‘black letter method’ (i.e., focusing on the letter of the law rather than the law in action) and the ‘socio-legal approach’ (i.e., an interdisciplinary approach to analysing the law, legal phenomenon and relationships between these and wider society). The study found that protection against child marriage in the UK is advanced; this country has comprehensive frameworks, such as legislation, policies, institutions and a culture that play a key role in protecting children against child marriage. However, in terms of age, there is a legal loophole that allows for the marrying of children aged 16 and 17 years. As for Saudi Arabia, there are major concerns, as the legal system does not offer comprehensive protection against child marriage, and the culture, institutions and laws remain behind in the protection of children against child marriages. Also, the age of the majority is set such that exceptions can be made that allow child marriages to occur. A critical recommendation made by this study is setting the marriage age to 18 years so that participants who marry can exercise full consent.