Savera UK welcomes news of the UK Parliament stepping closer to introducing legislation that would end all child marriages.

On Friday, 19th December, the second reading in the House of Commons of the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Minimum Age) Bill was supported by both the government and opposition benches.

Savera UK survivor ambassador, Payzee Mahmod, has campaigned tirelessly alongside organisations IKWRO and Karma Nirvana to bring this bill before the government and we applaud their efforts to advocate change.

Savera UK founder and CEO, Afrah Qassim, said: “On Friday we moved one step closer to ending child marriage in England and Wales.

“The Bill will not only raise the minimum age of marriage and civil partnership in England and Wales from 16 to 18, but it will also criminalise all marriages involving a child, including religious marriages which are not formally registered.

“We celebrate and welcome these life-saving and transformative changes, which will help organisations like Savera UK hold perpetrators of these practices to account, support survivors and give them back the opportunities and choices that child marriage often cruelly strips from them.

“Along with Karma Nirvana, IKWRO and campaigners like our survivor ambassador Payzee Mahmod, we will continue to support and advocate for those at risk of child marriage and work to eradicate the practice globally.”