EU slams Myanmar inter-marriage bill

YANGON: A controversial Myanmar marriage bill is discriminatory and risks undermining democratic progress, the EU said, after Parliament passed the legislation this week in another sign of hard-line Buddhist nationalist influence.
The Buddhist Women’s Special Marriage bill, which was approved by the combined houses of Parliament on Tuesday, is part of a package of laws originally suggested by radical monks, who have risen to prominence as religious tensions simmer in the diverse nation.
A draft of the bill published in December laid out a web of rules governing marriage between Buddhist women and men of other faiths, including a rule that the couple must apply to local authorities for permission and publicly announce the engagement.
Only if there were no objections could they go ahead with the wedding and failure to comply was punishable by a two-year jail term. It was not immediately clear what aspects of the draft were retained in the approved version.
“The bill discriminates against women by placing restrictions on Buddhist women’s right to marry outside their religion,” the European Union said in a statement released late Wednesday, adding it would also be detrimental to religious minorities, especially non-Buddhist men.