It Is Feared That The Emergence Of Aisha Weddings Will Increase Child Marriage During The Pandemic

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JAKARTA - Member of the Action Network, Ferny Prayitno, said that the emergence of the Aisha Weddings website which promotes the marriage of children aged 12 to 21 is a concern during the pandemic.

This member of the institute observing young women said that child marriage has always been a problem. However, at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic is also hurting economic conditions, Aisha Weddings will influence people to marry off their children.

"The emergence of Aisha Weddings has become a challenge for society during the pandemic. It is feared that there are people who think it is better to marry off their children to ease the burden of economic difficulties during the pandemic," Ferny said in a virtual discussion, Thursday, February 11.

According to Ferny, the trigger for this thought was the impact of the economy due to parents who were laid off due to the pandemic, eventually their children dropped out of school. Then, finally they decided to get married.

This is exacerbated by the jargon of Aisha Weddings which states that instead of starving children because their parents cannot pay for them, they should just be married.

"So, it's as if Aisha weddings said that this marriage is a solution to poverty. Even though that is not necessarily the case," he said.

Aisha Weddings became a mass conversation on Twitter. The wedding organizer (WO) was criticized for offering child marriage packages.

In an advertisement on the official website, Aisha Weddings offers wedding packages for brides in the age range 12-21 years. "All Muslim women want to be devout and obedient to Allah SWT and her husband. To be pleasing to Allah and your husband, you must be married at the age of 12-21 years and not more," reads the Aisha Weddings ad.

Deputy Chairman of the Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) Rita Pranawati suspected that Aisha Weddings' website violated Law Number 16 of 2019 concerning Amendments to Law 1 Number 1974 concerning Marriage.

According to Rita, Aisha Weddings also violated Law Number 35 of 2014 concerning Child Protection and Law Number 21 of 2007 concerning Eradication of the Crime of Trafficking in Persons (TPPO).

Because, said Rita, the act of the wedding organizer to marry off minors was a violation of children's rights.

"On the site there are pictures of children, then there is a statement of the child's marriage aged 12 to 21. That clearly violates children's rights," said Rita to VOI.