๐๐จ๐ข๐ง๐ญ ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐๐ ๐๐จ๐ง๐ฏ๐๐ง๐๐ฌ ๐ ๐ข๐ซ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐๐ฏ๐ข๐๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ซ๐ซ๐ข๐๐ ๐ (๐๐ฆ๐๐ง๐๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ) ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐จ๐ ๐๐ก๐ฎ๐ญ๐๐ง ๐๐๐๐
The Joint Committee was constituted pursuant to Article 13, Section 8 of the Constitution of Bhutan, to deliberate the disputed section of the Marriage (Amendment) Bill. In accordance with the Legislative Rules of Procedure 2022, the Joint Committee held its first meeting today, during which it elected its Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson. The Member of the National Assembly from Thrimshing-Kangpara constituency was unanimously elected as Chairperson, while the Member of the National Council from Lhuentse Dzongkhag was also unanimously elected as Deputy Chairperson of the Joint Committee.
During the discussion, the Members of the National Council proposed that several provisions from the additional amendments, which were deliberated in the National Council, also be considered by the Joint Committee- recognizing the Committee's efforts and the positive impact these changes could have on society. However, after thorough deliberation, the Committee reached to a consensus that only one provision- concerning the marriageable age- warranted further discussion and qualified as a disputed provision to be addressed during the Joint Sitting, as granted by the Royal Kasho.
The Marriage (Amendment) Bill, as deliberated by the National Council, included 28 additional amendments to the version proposed by the National Assembly. However, it did not secure a simple majority. Among these, only the amendment related to the marriageable age was identified as a disputed provision. While the Members of the Joint Committee acknowledged the need for a comprehensive review of the Marriage Act in the future, it emphasized that the urgency of amending the marriageable age. Since the age of 18 has been the acceptable standard in practice in Bhutan since 1996, it required formal alignment in both the legal text and its translation.
The Joint Committee unanimously agreed to focus solely on this provision, recognizing it as a reflection of Bhutanโs commitment to its state obligations under ratified international conventions- namely, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, and Bhutanโs Universal Periodic Review reporting obligations.
