Forced Marriage as an Unlawful Act in Indonesia: A Comparative Analysis

Abstract

Marriage is an inner and outer bond between a man and a woman as husband and wife to form happy and eternal family-based God Almighty, therefore, in implementation of marriage must be approved by both parties who carry out the marriage, without any coercion from any party. However, in practice, some marriages are carried out not because the free will of the parties, but of pressure or influence from a third party, unlawfully, coercing, placing someone under his control or another person, or abusing his power to do or allow it to be done with him or with another person, which is called forced marriage. Against forced marriages, in Indonesia, there are civil and criminal legal remedies, specifically in the case of forced marriages. Meanwhile, various legal remedies exist for forced marriages in other countries, such as Australia and United Kingdom. Herefore, it is necessary to make legal comparison to obtain comprehensive perspective, both the regulation, as well the practice the regulation, so that the proper legal framework will be obtained terms of providing legal remedies in the case of forced marriages in Indonesia. Based on this background, the formulation of the problem in this article: 1) legal remedies against forced marriages in Indonesia and 2) legal remedies that can be taken in the case of forced marriages in other countries. The research method in this article is legal research with statute approach, conceptual approach, comparative approach, and case approach. The results of the article: 1) analyze legal remedies forced marriage in Indonesia, 2) describe comparative laws from Australia and UK regarding the handling of forced marriages so that the proper legal framework will be obtained in terms of providing legal remedies for forced marriages in Indonesia.