On November 28, news about a 17-year-old boy marrying a 13-year-old girl in Chaoyang District, Shantou, Guangdong attracted attention from netizens.

According to a report from the Guiyu Township Government of Chaoyang District, after investigation, the two were Lu (male, 17 years old, dropped out) in Fengxin Village, Guiyu Town, and a neighboring village (female, 13 years old, who had dropped out of school) more than a year ago. ) Love freely. Due to the weak legal concept of both parents, the wedding was held for both parties in accordance with rural customs on November 26 this year, but they had never applied for marriage registration in the civil affairs department.

  On November 29th, Lu, a village cadre in Fengxin Village where Lu was located, told reporters that similar incidents did exist in the past, but now most of them complete the marriage process according to the legal age set by the state.

In response to this incident, the village will strengthen legal education among villagers on marriage regulations.

It’s not uncommon for locals to see similar phenomena before

  On November 28, a video about "17-year-old boy marrying 13-year-old girl" was circulated on the Internet.

The video shows that a pair of men and women in red clothes are sitting at the table and eating. There is a candle burning for marriage on the table, and the appearance of the men and women in the picture are both immature.

  According to informed netizens, the video took place in a village in Shantou City, Guangdong Province, and the village officials confirmed that the matter was true.

Soon, the Guiyu Township Government of Chaoyang District issued a notice on this matter, stating that the men and women in the video were the local 17-year-old dropout boy Lu and the 13-year-old dropout girl Zhuang.

The two were in free love a year ago. Due to the weak legal concept of both parents, they held a wedding in accordance with rural customs on November 26 this year, but they never applied for marriage registration in the civil affairs department.

  According to a local volunteer, the "marriage" of Lu and Zhuang is not a special case.

"In the past, when there was not strict control in this regard, many children started blind dates and marriages at the age of thirteen or four. As long as the two families found it suitable, they held a banquet as a marriage." The volunteer told reporters that many of these people Most of them chose to hold a banquet first because of unexpected pregnancy, and then wait until the age meets the requirements to register. "Now that the management is strict, and with more knowledge in this area, this situation is rare."

  It is understood that at present, the relevant departments of the Guiyu Town People’s Government in Chaoyang District have conducted legal education on the parents of Lu and Zhuang and ordered them to return the woman to her original family, and the parents should perform guardianship duties.

At the same time, it will further develop psychological counseling for both parties, educate and guide them to establish a correct concept of marriage, and persuade them to return to school.

The lawyer's parents have not fulfilled their duty of guardianship

  According to my country's "Marriage Law", the legal age of marriage for men is 22 years old, and women must not be earlier than 20 years old.

However, both Lu and Zhuang in the above incidents were under the legal age of marriage, but they held the wedding with the consent of their parents. So, are they involved in legal responsibilities and whether their guardians need to bear the corresponding Legal liability?

  Lawyer Song Hongyu of Taihetai Law Firm stated that according to the content reported by local officials, the incident does not involve the legal responsibilities of both men and women.

"In civil terms, it mainly depends on whether the two can form a marriage relationship. The boy and girl in this case cannot register their marriage because they do not meet the legal marriage age requirements of my country's Marriage Law, which does not constitute a marriage relationship." Lawyer Song Hongyu said. On the criminal side, judging from the current materials, no criminal acts have been found.

  Zhao Jianli, a lawyer from Beijing Zhongming Law Firm, told reporters that according to Article 15 of the Law on the Protection of Minors, parents or other guardians must not allow or force minors to marry, or enter into marriage contracts for minors.

In this incident, because both Lu and Zhuang were minors, their parents had not fulfilled their guardianship obligations, and they should bear guardianship responsibility in accordance with Article 62 of the Law on the Protection of Minors. "Parents or other guardians who fail to perform guardianship duties in accordance with the law, or infringe upon the lawful rights and interests of minors, shall be admonished and stopped by their units or residents committees or villagers committees; where violations of public security management are constituted, the public security organs shall impose administrative penalties in accordance with law. "

  Chengdu Commercial Daily-Red Star News reporter Luo Mengjie

Sound / tone

The right to education is more worthy of attention than early marriage

  After the incident caused an uproar, the girl involved has been asked to return to the family, but whether her parents can actively perform their guardianship duties still needs a question mark.

If the girl’s parents are not aware of the importance of education, and if the girl’s right to education is not adequately protected, similar phenomena may be difficult to eradicate. Compared with doing nothing at home, getting married earlier may be what some parents think. Business".

The so-called “rural customs” is obviously not limited to one household, or even a certain time or place—according to reports, a few years ago, Jinping County, Yunnan, received much attention due to the widespread phenomenon of early marriage, where women gave birth to children. The age is generally 14 or 15 years old, even some families are 12-year-old and love 13-year-old to have children.

  Early marriages and dropouts in rural areas always go hand in hand. Although not every child who drops out of school will marry early, every case of early marriage must be accompanied by dropouts.

Especially for rural girls, if parents cannot change their notion that studying and going to school is a "waste", getting married and having children early may become a "destiny" they cannot escape.

When the concept of the legal system is steadily retreating in the face of rural customs in some places, not only the legitimate rights and interests of children cannot be guaranteed, but their destiny track has already been set.

  According to the official announcement, the Guiyu Town Government will conduct further investigations with civil affairs, education, public security and other departments, and related work is in progress.

This incident is not only a legal issue, but also an educational and social issue.

In addition to correcting parental perceptions, it is undoubtedly more important to reverse the so-called "rural customs". Therefore, it is necessary to increase the protection of compulsory education and prevent a school-age child from dropping out of school.

After all, children who have nothing to do or even cause trouble after dropping out of school are more worrying than those who drop out of school and get married.

  Chengdu Commercial Daily-Red Star News Special Commentator Zhao Zhijiang