Grenada PM defends raising legal marriage age to 18 to protect minors

The Grenadian Parliament has approved an amendment to the 1966 Marriage Act, officially raising the legal age of marriage from 16 to 18, even with parental consent. The move, Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell said, is aimed at strengthening protections for children and aligning the nation’s laws with modern standards of child welfare.

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“This amendment to the Marriage Act is part of a broader series of legislation… to modernise and to get protection to our children,” Mitchell told the House of Representatives during debate on November 4. He noted that the decision ensures that “vulnerable children are not married off at the consent of their parents.”

Under Grenadian law, a child is defined as any person under 18 years of age. The revised Marriage Act now brings that definition in line with other national policies, such as the 2011 Age of Civil Responsibility Act, which sets 18 as the age of civil responsibility.

The Prime Minister, a lawyer by profession, said the amendment also prevents Grenada from being exploited by “nefarious actors” who might take advantage of financially vulnerable families by arranging child marriages. “At 16, they will be barely leaving high school,” he said, warning that the old law created loopholes that endangered minors.

Mitchell also addressed public controversy surrounding a separate, not-yet-tabled bill — the Amendment to the Age of Civil Responsibility Bill — which would allow minors aged 12 and older to access sexual and reproductive healthcare without parental consent. He said the intent of that proposed measure is to give children medical access, not to encourage sexual activity.

“I have not heard the same set of people making all this noise talk about the existing laws on our books, which permit our children to be married off and to engage in sex,” he said. “We have to resist the temptation for sensation and random woke conspiracy theories when it comes to how this administration seeks to protect our children.”

Mitchell added that his government aims for consistency across all laws governing adulthood, noting that 18 is already the age for voting, obtaining a driver’s license, and acquiring a national ID card. “We are seeking to get consistency,” he said, adding that exceptions may still apply in specific cases, such as access to healthcare.