The age of sexual consent in India is 18 under the Criminal Law Amendment Act 2013. [57] It has been proposed to raise the age of sexual consent from 12 to 18. [103] In 2020, the Philippine House of Representatives committees on law review and child welfare passed a proposal to increase it to 16. [104] In 2021, the Philippine Senate approved the measure to set the age of consent at 16. [105] Senator Richard Gordon, sponsor of the bill, and 21 other senators voted in favour of passing the bill. [106] With the passage of the Violent Crime Act in 2008, the age of consent in Canada was raised from 14 to 16. It was the first time since 1892 that the age had been raised. The law applies to all forms of sexual activity and was developed with the aim of scaring off online predators. The law provides for an exception of proximity of age. As a result, 14- and 15-year-olds can legally consent to someone under five years older than them, and 12- and 13-year-olds can consent to a partner if the partner is less than two years older than them. There must be no relationship of authority, dependency or exploitation of the younger person for consent to be valid.
The age of consent in East Timor is 14 years, regardless of gender or sexual orientation, in accordance with article 177. However, sexual acts with a teenager between the ages of 14 and 15 are illegal if an adult performs them with the adolescent by “exploiting” the young person`s inexperience. (Section 178). [23] Prior to 2012, it was assumed that a male minor under the age of 14 could not consent to sexual intercourse under any circumstances. The law was changed after a 13-year-old boy attacked a 5-year-old girl in a ward of Chai Wan Hospital. The prosecution was unable to convict him of rape, but only of immoral assault. In 2015, an 11-year-old boy and a 13-year-old boy were arrested after they were found having sex with an 11-year-old girl. Under the new laws, they have the option of being sentenced to the maximum sentence of life imprisonment. [56] Any sexual activity outside of marriage is illegal in Yemen. Until recently, Yemeni law set the age of consent at 15.
However, this law has been abolished. Now, “Yemeni law allows girls of any age to marry, but it prohibits sexual relations with them until they are fit to have sex indefinitely.” [122] In 1999, the minimum age of fifteen marriages for women, which was rarely applied, was abolished; The onset of puberty, interpreted by the ulema as the age of nine, was set as a prerequisite for consummation of marriage. [123] Aruba, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadies have the lowest age of consent in North America at 15. In the United States, the age of consent is determined individually by each state and ranges from 16 to 18. Most South American countries choose 14 as the age of consent, including Paraguay, Peru, Brazil, Bolivia and Ecuador. Chile and Argentina, however, have the highest age of consent in America at 18. According to Article 287 of the Indonesian Penal Code, the age of consent in Indonesia is 15 years. [62] The age of consent is the minimum age at which a person is legally old enough to consent to engage in sexual activity.
Persons aged 14 or younger in Indonesia are legally incapable of consenting to sexual activity, and such activities may result in prosecution for legal rape or relevant local law. Rape is punishable by imprisonment. Since 1986, the penalty has been either life imprisonment or the death penalty for victims under the age of 16. Single women under the age of 14 are presumed to have given their consent. [29] According to Article 349 of the updated Penal Code, the death penalty for the rapist is only allowed if the rape results in the death of the sexually assaulted woman. [27] The general age of consent in Macau is 14, regardless of gender or sexual orientation. Although persons under the age of 18 are considered minors, the Criminal Code does not criminalize sexual relations with persons over the age of 16 (except in the specific case of minors between the ages of 16 and 18 who have been entrusted to an adult for educational or support purposes and who have abused this position (Article 167/1 (b) of the Macao Penal Code)). The Japanese Penal Code was introduced in 1907 and sets the age of consent at 13.
Any sexual activity with a person under the age of 13 is considered legal rape and can carry a prison sentence of up to 20 years. However, Chapter 34 of the Child Protection Act also prohibits “fornication” with children (defined as persons under the age of 18). Thirty-one states have set the age of consent at 16, eight at 17 and eleven at 18.