Currently, Saudi Arabia does not have a minimal legal age for marriage, but regulations are being put in place to help protect against these young children. The Shura council, approved regulations on Wednesday to prohibit marriage for girls under 15 and those under 18 will have to be approved by a court. Women in Saudi Arabia are living under a guardianship system. The guardianship system or better know as laws, are strict interpretations of Shariah law. This requires women to seek permission from a male counterpart for basic needs such as marriage, work, and travel. The council protecting these young children, does not have legislative power, but can rather propose laws to the king and cabinet. On a global scale, about 12 million girls marry under the age of 18 each year and the United Nations views the act as a human rights violation. Even though this is a huge improvement and step in the right direction for Saudi Arabia’s future, the court still has the power to rule an underage marriage legal despite their parents refusal. Saudi Arabia isn’t the only country that doesn’t have a minimum age limit on marriage. Countries like the U.S and U.K offer little protection to girls who don’t want to marry but risk alienation from family if they speak their true feelings. Most can agree that their needs to be a ban on child marriage but getting countries to agree is a issue that may take longer than expected. On the other hand, Kuwait is requesting $496 million from Dubai. The money has been frozen in Dubai’s state-owned Noor Bank since 2017, when a public prosecutor along with one of Kuwait’s prosecutors, starting probing the lawfulness of their transfer from Dubai to the Philippines. Kuwait has asked that the money be returned on numerous occasions, first in October and again in December. Since then, Kuwait has charged the two port fund directors of embezzling the funds. A spokesperson from Dubai stated that they were waiting on judicial authorities to come to a final consensus in order for the funds to be returned to Kuwait. Until Dubai returns the $496 million, tensions continue to strain between the two countries.
