The government should ban child marriages in its proposed new law to stop sexual abuse against children, DAP lawmaker Teo Nie Ching said today.

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak yesterday announced that the new law would be tabled to address sexual crimes against children.

Teo said child marriage should be included in the new law because nearly 15,000 girls below the age of 15 were in married in Malaysia in 2010, as revealed by the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry.

"Malaysia adopted a United Nations resolution to end child marriage, at the Human Rights Council in October 2013.

"It's time for our government to honour our pledge and I hope our government will do so when tabling the bill," Teo, the Kulai MP, said in a statement.

Although sexual intercourse with a girl under the age of 16 is a crime under the Penal Code, child marriages are still allowed under special provisions of the syariah or native courts.