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On Thursday, the Danish Parliament passed a bill prohibiting people under the age of 18 from getting married in a move to protect minors from entering into marriage unwillingly.

The new law will come into effect on February 1 and comes as a U-turn after Danish Immigration Service (DIS) in September claimed keeping the couples apart violated international conventions.

In a report, DIS wrote: “In some of these cases it has been it has been assessed that it would not be compatible with Denmark’s international obligations to maintain the separate living quarters, thus these couples have been offered to be housed together.”

The furious debate was sparked in February last year when Integration Minister Inger Støjberg announced that child brides should be separated from their spouses.