Provision on marriage at 14 will be removed from draft Civil Code - Stefanchuk

The provision on marriage at the age of 14 will be removed from the draft Civil Code of Ukraine. The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk announced this on Facebook, the Ukrainian News agency reports.

Stefanchuk noted that one of the articles of the draft law, which allegedly lowers the marriage age to 14, is being criticized online.

"Let me start by saying that this is not true. The draft law provides for a provision according to which in case of a child's birth to a person who has reached the age of 14 or her pregnancy, marriage may be allowed ONLY BY A COURT DECISION," he said.

Stefanchuk emphasized that this rule is not intended to encourage marriage at the age of 14, it is protective - to protect the interests of a newborn child, which is why a number of restrictions are provided: the fact of the birth of a child to a person who has reached the age of 14 or her pregnancy, as well as the existence of a court decision.

"This is what the authors of the project believe should ensure what is known in the world as taking into account the BEST INTERESTS OF THE CHILD: that a newborn child, regardless of the circumstances that he or she did not create, has a chance to grow up in a full-fledged, loving family, and not be left without a father or mother," he explained.

At the same time, he said, the working group sees that society perceives this norm ambiguously.

"Therefore, we decided - based on the results of the discussions - to remove this provision from the draft and leave the current one in force... This provision will not be in the draft. We cannot make the other 1949 articles of a large and fundamental draft law dependent on the perception or rejection of the provisions of one article," Stefanchuk said.

As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, in September, the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk said that he had developed proposals for updating the Civil Code to make it a real "supermarket of legal opportunities" for every Ukrainian.