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Courtney Menzies spoke with them yesterday and has this story.

As of yesterday, persons under 18 can no longer enter into marriage, even with parental permission. The Marriage Amendment Bill was passed with full support from the House of Representatives.

The bill was born from the 2023 Youth Parliament. It was the topic that 31 young persons debated. And so outside the House, some of these youths were in the makeshift gallery with their signs, eager to see their hard work become legislation.

Dolores Balderamos Garcia, Minister of Human Development
"I think this is really about them. We have only carried forward what they presented to us a year ago in November and it was a robust discussion and debate in parliament for the Youth Parliament, they call is Children's Parliament but I prefer to say youth. This is all about them and big kudos to every single one of the youth parliamentarians today."

"At the moment before we pass the legislation today, it is that you can get married, yes at 18, but also with parental consent at 16. Now I don't believe that should happen and like I said, they have made the case. As a matter of fact, and I will say it in the House later this afternoon, some of the Youth Parliamentarians in the Opposition even asked for the age of marriage because marriage really is a contract and somebody under 18 shouldn't be allowed to sign a contract."

And the topic is one that became very significant to these youths, and seeing it being debated in the House has filled them with motivation.

Victoria Usher, OW South Rep., Youth Parliament 2023
"Coming into a marriage at an early age can cause different situations, possibly girls dropping out of school, even the males dropping out of school. Many people think it only affects the females, no it also affects the males."

"It was quite significant because I am proud to say that my voice is being heard. We thought that it was probably just for sakes but we're here today."

Carlos Nah, Leader of the Opposition., Youth Parliament 2023
"It's really impactful to see the brilliant minds that we had last year and it's very inspiring because we are the future generation of Belize and when we heard about this bill, we didn't know anything about it. And when we were doing the research they barely had any information but thanks to this movement that we did recently, I did an essay about it and I really was inspired by looking at the new research they had this year. And I'm really inspired because the little impact we did is really changing a movement and that is what I like to see when it comes to youths and just like I said, we are the future of Belize and if we could do this one little thing, we could change several things about our country."

And Nah's opposition actually argued on the age being increase to 21 - but he says that may be a task for future young parliamentarians.

Carlos Nah, Leader of the Opposition., Youth Parliament 2023
"Some of the argument is the development of the brain, age 25 is when the brain is fully developed so then if you had it at age 21 it would have been a little more closer to it but right now, the age of 18 is still a good step towards that so maybe later in the future a next set of youths could change that to 21 as well so let's see."

Dolores Balderamos Garcia, Minister of Human Development
"We're definitely keeping the young people engaged. So whereas I wouldn't be able to make a promise of this setting a precedent for further legislation, of course the adults must listen to our young people."