COR Point 76 The Right to Marriage and Family Life (ICCPR Articles 23-24)
The age of marriage
In democratic states with the rule of law, parliamentary organs exercise their powers based on the mandate of ballots cast by the people. In line with this principle, the Organic Law of the Legislative Yuan contains the principle of “no continuity between legislatures” so that when legislators' term comes to an end, all the bills, except budgetary (final account) and petition bills that have not been resolved upon, shall not continue to be examined in the next Legislative Yuan. After the new Legislature is elected, the new parliamentary representatives and the new central government will newly submit and review various bills in keeping with the current state of society and the principles of democracy and rule of law. The State report mentions that the Executive Yuan submitted relevant revisions to the Civil Code to the Legislative Yuan in 2011, but because legislators expressed differing views while reviewing these draft revisions, the government decided not to re-submit these revisions in order to “respect the Legislative Yuan.” This explanation neglects to note that a new Eighth Legislative Yuan had been elected and had been seated in February 2012. the MOJ should have re-submitted the draft revisions and explained to lawmakers why the draft changes were necessary to be in step with the two Covenants. The MOJ’s claim that the government needed to “respect the old Legislature” in the face of a new Legislature displays a transparent refusal to heed the fundamental principles of democracy and the rule of law and violated its own obligation to respect the Covenants. Furthermore, although lawmakers expressed different views when the draft revisions were under review in 2011, committee meeting nonetheless resolved that “the MOJ should again invite experts and scholars to discuss the suitable marriage age for men and women” and “carefully handle this issue.” The State report only stated that the MOJ held a meeting to discuss the minimum age for engagement and marriage in March 2014, but did not relate what further actions were taken.