Editor's Note:
Clayton Kershaw is a pitcher for the MLB Los Angeles Dodgers and recently won a World Series title in 2020. Clayton and his wife Ellen founded the
Kershaw's Challenge
to make a difference and give back to people in need.
The opinions expressed in this opinion piece are yours.
Read more opinion on CNN en Español.
(CNN) -
Today, on Human Rights Day, my wife Ellen and I joined the International Justice Mission (IJM) and other organizations to strongly urge the Dominican Constitutional Court to protect children by declaring child marriage unconstitutional. in 2020.
A UNICEF report shows that one in four girls in Latin America and the Caribbean marries or enters an early union before the age of 18.
It is worrying that the Dominican Republic has the highest rate in the region.
Currently, there is a devastating loophole in the law of the Dominican Republic, which legally allows children to be forced into marriage.
Marriages are prohibited below the minimum age (for girls, 15 years), but the law allows judges to make exceptions.
According to IJM staff on the ground in the Dominican Republic, this mainly affects girls and adolescents, although boys can also be victims.
Child marriage often becomes permission for an adult who seduces a minor and takes advantage of her to cover up his crime and avoid criminal consequences.
This must change.
MIRA: The horror of child marriage in Latin America
Through our charity,
Kershaw's Challenge
, Ellen and I work primarily with Los Angeles, Dallas, Zambia and the Dominican Republic, so the subject is close to me.
Zambia's child marriage rates are also high, as are those of other Latin American countries besides the Dominican Republic.
But given the country's laws and recent actions to change them, the Dominican Republic's child marriage rates appear to be closer to a tipping point.
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Important steps have been taken recently by President Luis Abinader and the House of Representatives: the House voted to eliminate two articles in the country's civil code that allow the legal vacuum.
Senate approval is pending.
Many have taken strong positions against child marriage, but more is needed.
Declaring child marriage unconstitutional in the Dominican Constitutional Court is not just a modification on the books, but it will impact real children throughout the country, who will be protected and have the freedom to dream and become who they want to be and, most of all. importantly, they will never be victims of this violence.
As a child, he dreamed of playing baseball in the big leagues and winning a World Series.
So winning it in 2020 was literally a dream come true, but even with all the notoriety that has come with awards and recognition throughout my baseball career, the most important thing anyone can do is use their platform for a positive change.
Since 2011 through the
Kershaw's Challenge
, we have been investing in our local communities and internationally to impact the lives of children.
Due to the strong bond with baseball and the connection we feel with the culture and the people, we specifically focus part of our efforts on the Dominican Republic.
As a parent, I want nothing less for my children to experience that same freedom to enjoy their childhood, dream, and decide who they want to become, but when children are forced to marry, it takes away their freedom to dream and become who they want. be.
It has devastating and long-term impacts on girls, such as limiting their development opportunities, exposing them to other forms of violence such as sexual abuse, early pregnancy and school dropout;
it can even make them vulnerable to sex trafficking.
MIRA: «Girls not Brides», a crusade to eradicate child marriage in one generation
From wherever you are, you can join us and help expand the work IJM and its partners are doing on the ground to promote this critical change in legislation that will end the practice of child marriage in the Dominican Republic.
We have the opportunity to be part of that change, so let's raise our voices and use our platforms today.
We will be tagging the Dominican Constitutional Court on Twitter (@TrimonyConstRD) using the hashtags #nolacases and # chicasnoesposas to ask them to rule with justice and protect children by declaring child marriage unconstitutional.
They have the power to make a change forever.
Child marriage