Forced Marriage

Definition published in the category International Crimes and Human Rights Violations

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Matrimonios infantiles, precoces y forzados

Child, early and forced marriages (CEFM)

Forced marriage occurs when at least one of the parties has not given full, free, and genuine consent to this legal union [1] or is unable to end it, "including as a result of duress or intense social or family pressure" [2]. There are many different forms of forced marriage, including marriage that is forced by a partner, parents, family, or community [3]. Forced marriage also occurs when domestic laws or practices allow or encourage a perpetrator of rape to marry the victim in order to escape criminal sanctions, usually with the consent of the victim’s family [4].

Child marriage and early marriage both cover situations in which at least one of the parties is under the age of 18 [5]. Early marriage encompasses situations where the domestic legal framework sets the age of majority below 18 [6], as well as where a person is over 18 but is not deemed to be capable of giving informed consent due to her/his "level of physical, emotional, sexual and psychosocial development, or a lack of information regarding… life options" [7]. Child and early marriages are characterised as forced marriages [8] as children are not legally considered capable of consenting to enter into such a union [9].

Factors leading to or increasing the risk of child, early and forced marriage (CEFM) are numerous, and often cumulative or overlapping. They include:

  • Poverty, particularly where money and/or goods are offered in exchange for marriage, and marriage is used as a means to subsidise the needs of the rest of the family [10];
  • Other socio-economic factors, including where CEFM allows families or clans to forge an alliance, strengthen solidarity and bonds between groups, or preserve property and inheritance rights;
  • Inadequate and harmful laws and/or customary, traditional, religious or tribal practices and rules [11];
  • Perceived needs for protection and security, in many cases with the idea that CEFM is "in the best interest" of the girl, in particular in areas where girls are at high risk of harassment and physical or sexual assault [12], and in conflict settings and humanitarian emergencies [13];
  • Migration [14];
  • Notions of family "pride" and "honour", for example in cases of rape or of pregnancy outside marriage;
  • Lack of education [15].

While CEFM affects all genders, the practice is particularly widespread against women and girls, and is inherently linked to deep-rooted patriarchal values and gender norms, inequalities, discrimination and stereotypes. According to the United Nations (UN), "girls are disproportionately affected by the practice – about five time more than boys" [16] and at least 15 million girls are subjected to forced marriage every year [17]. By 2030, "over 150 million more girls [may be] marr[ied] before their 18th birthday" [18].

CEFM is a form of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) that leads to additional acts of physical, psychological, sexual and economic violence and discrimination [19]. For instance, CEFM almost automatically results in sexual violence, in particular marital rape, and possibly forced or early pregnancies. It may also arise from or lead to sexual slavery [20]. CEFM prevents the forced parties, mainly women and girls, from making free choices regarding key aspects of their lives such as education, work, health, parenthood, sexuality and social interactions [21] and leads to violations of many other fundamental rights.

Temporary marriages

Temporary marriage, also referred to as "contractual marriage", "summer marriage" [22], "mut’ah marriage" ("pleasure marriage") [23] or "tourist marriage" [24], refers to situations in which a family sells a member of the household, most often a girl, into a short-term marriage in order to ensure a financial gain to the family [25]. Temporary marriage is a form of CEFM. The practice has been reported in several countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. In Egypt, for example, girls are reportedly sold for marriage to wealthy men who exploit them for the duration of their holidays before returning them to their family, to be "re-married" [26]. Some girls are reported to have undergone up to 60 such "marriages" before reaching the age of 18 [27].

The duration of these arrangements between girls and visitors is usually agreed upon by the parties in accordance with the visitor’s travel plans [28]. During this time, girls can be forced to travel to other countries where they are subjected to exploitation, including forced prostitution [29], or sold into conditions amounting to sexual slavery [30].

CEFM is prohibited under international law. The Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriages, adopted in 1964, notes that "no marriage shall be legally entered into without the full and free consent of both parties" [31]. This is in line with the human right recognised in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), and reaffirmed in subsequent international instruments [32], to marry and found a family based on free and full consent [33]. States have an obligation to prevent and eliminate CEFM and to bring perpetrators to justice [34]. The prohibition is also covered by international and regional instruments prohibiting related violence, such as sexual exploitation, human trafficking (including sex trafficking), forced prostitution, child abuse and gender-based violence and discrimination [35].

As shown by the jurisprudence of hybrid tribunals, where the requisite contextual elements are met, all forms of forced marriage can be prosecuted under international criminal law as a crime against humanity under the category of "other inhumane acts" [36].

Related terms

All definitions

Footnotes

<div id="nb1">
<p><span class="spip_note_ref">[<a href="/en/marriage#nh1" class="spip_note" title="Footnotes 1" rev="appendix">1</a>] </span>See for example Council of Europe, Parliamentary Assembly, <i><a href="https://assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/XRef/Xref-XML2HTML-en.asp?fileid=17380" class="spip_out" rel="external">Resolution 1468(2005) on Forced marriages and child marriages</a></i>, 5 October 2005, para. 4; and <i><a href="https://assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/XRef/Xref-XML2HTML-EN.asp?fileid=25016" class="spip_out" rel="external">Resolution 2233(2018), Forced marriage in Europe</a></i>, 28 June 2018, para. 3.</p>
</div><div id="nb2">
<p><span class="spip_note_ref">[<a href="/en/marriage#nh2" class="spip_note" title="Footnotes 2" rev="appendix">2</a>] </span>United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council, <i><a href="https://docs.un.org/en/A/HRC/26/22" class="spip_out" rel="external">Preventing and Eliminating Child, Early and Forced Marriage, Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights</a></i>, UN Doc. A/HRC/26/22, 2 April 2014 ("Human Rights Council, Report on Preventing and Eliminating Child, Early and Forced Marriage 2014"), para. 6.</p>
</div><div id="nb3">
<p><span class="spip_note_ref">[<a href="/en/marriage#nh3" class="spip_note" title="Footnotes 3" rev="appendix">3</a>] </span>Additional forms of forced marriage include hereditary slavery, trafficking and adoption for the purpose of forced marriage. See I Do Project (Canada), "<i><a href="http://idoproject.ca/types-of-forced-marriage/" class="spip_out" rel="external">Types of Forced Marriage</a></i>", n.d.</p>
</div><div id="nb4">
<p><span class="spip_note_ref">[<a href="/en/marriage#nh4" class="spip_note" title="Footnotes 4" rev="appendix">4</a>] </span>UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women ("CEDAW Committee") and UN Committee on the Rights of the Child ("CRC Committee"), <i><a href="https://docs.un.org/en/CEDAW/C/GC/31/CRC/C/GC/18" class="spip_out" rel="external">Joint general recommendation No. 31 of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women/general comment No. 18 of the Committee on the Rights of the Child on harmful practices</a></i>, UN Doc. CEDAW/C/GC/31-CRC/C/GC/18, 14 November 2014 ("CEDAW and CRC Committees, Joint recommendation on harmful practices"), para. 23.</p>
</div><div id="nb5">
<p><span class="spip_note_ref">[<a href="/en/marriage#nh5" class="spip_note" title="Footnotes 5" rev="appendix">5</a>] </span><i>CEDAW and CRC Committees, Joint recommendation on harmful practices</i>, op. cit.; Council of Europe, <i>Resolution 1468 (2005) on Forced marriages and child marriages</i>, op. cit., para. 7.</p>
</div><div id="nb6">
<p><span class="spip_note_ref">[<a href="/en/marriage#nh6" class="spip_note" title="Footnotes 6" rev="appendix">6</a>] </span><i>UN Human Rights Council, Report on Preventing and Eliminating Child, Early and Forced Marriage 2014</i>, op. cit., para 5.</p>
</div><div id="nb7">
<p><span class="spip_note_ref">[<a href="/en/marriage#nh7" class="spip_note" title="Footnotes 7" rev="appendix">7</a>] </span>Idem. E. Lowe, N. Kharoufeh, B. McKinley, E. McDonald, P. Alphonse, R. Boustani, M. Milivojevic and R. Ferguson, <i><a href="https://haqcrc.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/the-development-of-global-responses-to-child-early-and-forced-marriages.pdf" class="spip_out" rel="external">The Development of Global Responses to Child, Early and Forced Marriages, A Global scoping paper prepared for Haq Centre for Child Rights</a></i>, 2017, p. 7.</p>
</div><div id="nb8">
<p><span class="spip_note_ref">[<a href="/en/marriage#nh8" class="spip_note" title="Footnotes 8" rev="appendix">8</a>] </span>Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), "<i><a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/women/harmful-practices" class="spip_out" rel="external">Child, early and forced marriage, including in humanitarian settings: Definition</a></i>", n.d.</p>
</div><div id="nb9">
<p><span class="spip_note_ref">[<a href="/en/marriage#nh9" class="spip_note" title="Footnotes 9" rev="appendix">9</a>] </span>There are some exceptions, provided that the child is not under 16, see <i>CEDAW and CRC Committees, Joint recommendation on harmful practices</i>, op. cit., para. 20. Note that in domestic laws, the age of marriage is frequently significantly lower. These exceptions have been criticised as creating a potential protection gap; see for instance, Girls not Brides Initiative, arguing that governments should "have clear and consistent legislation establishing eighteen as the minimum age of marriage, and adequate safeguards must be in place to ensure that parental consent or other exceptions are not used to force girls into marriage".</p>
</div><div id="nb10">
<p><span class="spip_note_ref">[<a href="/en/marriage#nh10" class="spip_note" title="Footnotes 10" rev="appendix">10</a>] </span>Idem. CEDAW Committee, <i><a href="https://docs.un.org/en/CEDAW/C/GC/30" class="spip_out" rel="external">General recommendation No. 30 on women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations</a></i>, UN Doc. CEDAW/C/GC/30, 1 November 2013, para. 62; World Health Organisation (WHO), Inter-Parliamentary Union, <i><a href="https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/1665/246283/9789241565042-eng.pdf?sequence=1" class="spip_out" rel="external">Child, early and forced marriage legislation in 37 Asia-Pacific countries</a></i>, 2016, p. 8.</p>
</div><div id="nb11">
<p><span class="spip_note_ref">[<a href="/en/marriage#nh11" class="spip_note" title="Footnotes 11" rev="appendix">11</a>] </span>This is for example the case when guardians over girls have the legal authority to consent to marriage on their behalf; see <i>CEDAW and CRC Committees, Joint recommendation on harmful practices</i>, op. cit., para. 21.</p>
</div><div id="nb12">
<p><span class="spip_note_ref">[<a href="/en/marriage#nh12" class="spip_note" title="Footnotes 12" rev="appendix">12</a>] </span>Girls not Brides, "Why does child marriage happen?"</p>
</div><div id="nb13">
<p><span class="spip_note_ref">[<a href="/en/marriage#nh13" class="spip_note" title="Footnotes 13" rev="appendix">13</a>] </span>United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), <i><a href="https://docs.un.org/en/a/71/253" class="spip_out" rel="external">Child, early and forced marriage, Report of the Secretary-General</a></i>, UN Doc. A/71/253, 29 July 2016, para. 61.</p>
</div><div id="nb14">
<p><span class="spip_note_ref">[<a href="/en/marriage#nh14" class="spip_note" title="Footnotes 14" rev="appendix">14</a>] </span><i>CEDAW and CRC Committees, Joint recommendation on harmful practices</i>, op. cit., para. 23.</p>
</div><div id="nb15">
<p><span class="spip_note_ref">[<a href="/en/marriage#nh15" class="spip_note" title="Footnotes 15" rev="appendix">15</a>] </span><i>UN Human Rights Council, Report on Preventing and Eliminating Child, Early and Forced Marriage 2014</i>, op. cit., para. 18.</p>
</div><div id="nb16">
<p><span class="spip_note_ref">[<a href="/en/marriage#nh16" class="spip_note" title="Footnotes 16" rev="appendix">16</a>] </span>United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), <i><a href="https://www.unicef.org/protection/files/Global_Programme_Child_Marriage_2018_Brochure-EN(1).pdf" class="spip_out" rel="external">Let’s End Child Marriage. UNFPA – UNICEF Global Programme to Accelerate Action to End Child Marriage</a></i>, 2018.</p>
</div><div id="nb17">
<p><span class="spip_note_ref">[<a href="/en/marriage#nh17" class="spip_note" title="Footnotes 17" rev="appendix">17</a>] </span>Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), <i><a href="https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Women/WRGS/CEFM/RecommendationsForActionEbook.pdf" class="spip_out" rel="external">Recommendations for action against child and forced marriages</a></i>, 2017, p. 5.</p>
</div><div id="nb18">
<p><span class="spip_note_ref">[<a href="/en/marriage#nh18" class="spip_note" title="Footnotes 18" rev="appendix">18</a>] </span>UNFPA-UNICEF Global Programme to Accelerate Action to End Child Marriage, <i>Let’s end child marriage</i>, 2018, op. cit.</p>
</div><div id="nb19">
<p><span class="spip_note_ref">[<a href="/en/marriage#nh19" class="spip_note" title="Footnotes 19" rev="appendix">19</a>] </span>Council of Europe, <i>Resolution 2233 (2018)</i>, op. cit., paras 2, 4.</p>
</div><div id="nb20">
<p><span class="spip_note_ref">[<a href="/en/marriage#nh20" class="spip_note" title="Footnotes 20" rev="appendix">20</a>] </span>Economic and Social Council, Resolution 608(XXI) on <i><a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/supplementary-convention-abolition-slavery-slave-trade-and" class="spip_out" rel="external">Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery</a></i>, 30 April 1956, Articles 1 and 2; A. Adams, "Sexual Slavery: Do we Need This Crime in Addition to Enslavement?", <i>Criminal Law Forum</i>, Vol. 29, 2018, pp. 279-323. See the debate at the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) on how to prosecute forced marriage in the cases of <i><a href="https://www.rscsl.org/Documents/Decisions/RUF/1234/SCSL-04-15-T-1234-searchable.pdf" class="spip_out" rel="external">Prosecutor v. Issa Hassan Sesay, Morris Kallon and Augustine Gbao</a></i>, Trial Judgement, SCSL-04-15-T, 2 March 2009; SCSL, <i><a href="https://www.rscsl.org/Documents/Decisions/AFRC/Appeal/675/SCSL-04-16-A-675.pdf" class="spip_out" rel="external">Prosecutor v. Alex Tamba Brima, Brima Bazzy Kamara and Santigie Borbor Kanu</a></i>, Appeals Judgment, SCSL-2004-16-A, 22 February 2008, paras 187-203.</p>
</div><div id="nb21">
<p><span class="spip_note_ref">[<a href="/en/marriage#nh21" class="spip_note" title="Footnotes 21" rev="appendix">21</a>] </span><i>The Development of Global Responses to Child, Early and Forced Marriages, A Global scoping paper prepared for Haq Centre for Child Rights</i>, 2017, op. cit.; Council of Europe, <i>Resolution 2233 (2018)</i>, op. cit., para. 2.</p>
</div><div id="nb22">
<p><span class="spip_note_ref">[<a href="/en/marriage#nh22" class="spip_note" title="Footnotes 22" rev="appendix">22</a>] </span>ECPAT International, <i><a href="https://www.ecpat.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Regional-Overview-Sexual-Exploitation-of-Children-in-the-Middle-East-and-North-Africa-ECPAT-research.pdf" class="spip_out" rel="external">Regional Overview: Sexual Exploitation of Children in the Middle East and North Africa</a></i>, 2020, pp. 34-35.</p>
</div><div id="nb23">
<p><span class="spip_note_ref">[<a href="/en/marriage#nh23" class="spip_note" title="Footnotes 23" rev="appendix">23</a>] </span>Ibid., p. 39.</p>
</div><div id="nb24">
<p><span class="spip_note_ref">[<a href="/en/marriage#nh24" class="spip_note" title="Footnotes 24" rev="appendix">24</a>] </span>Idem; see also International Organisation for Migration (IOM), <i><a href="https://publications.iom.int/system/files/pdf/tourist_marriage_yemen.pdf" class="spip_out" rel="external">Pilot Study: Tourist Marriage in Yemen</a></i>, 2014.</p>
</div><div id="nb25">
<p><span class="spip_note_ref">[<a href="/en/marriage#nh25" class="spip_note" title="Footnotes 25" rev="appendix">25</a>] </span><i>UN Human Rights Council, Report on Preventing and Eliminating Child, Early and Forced Marriage 2014</i>, op. cit., para. 17.</p>
</div><div id="nb26">
<p><span class="spip_note_ref">[<a href="/en/marriage#nh26" class="spip_note" title="Footnotes 26" rev="appendix">26</a>] </span><i>Regional Overview: Sexual Exploitation of Children in the Middle East and North Africa</i>, 2020, op. cit., pp. 34-35.</p>
</div><div id="nb27">
<p><span class="spip_note_ref">[<a href="/en/marriage#nh27" class="spip_note" title="Footnotes 27" rev="appendix">27</a>] </span>Inter Press Service, "<i><a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/08/underage-girls-are-egypts-summer-rentals/" class="spip_out" rel="external">Underage Girls are Egypt’s Summer Rentals</a></i>", 5 August 2013.</p>
</div><div id="nb28">
<p><span class="spip_note_ref">[<a href="/en/marriage#nh28" class="spip_note" title="Footnotes 28" rev="appendix">28</a>] </span><i>Regional Overview: Sexual Exploitation of Children in the Middle East and North Africa</i>, 2020, op. cit., p. 39.</p>
</div><div id="nb29">
<p><span class="spip_note_ref">[<a href="/en/marriage#nh29" class="spip_note" title="Footnotes 29" rev="appendix">29</a>] </span>UN Committee on the Rights of the Child ("CRC Committee"), <i><a href="https://docs.un.org/en/CRC/C/IRQ/CO/2-4" class="spip_out" rel="external">Concluding Observations on the Combined Second to Fourth Periodic Reports of Iraq</a></i>, UN Doc. CRC/C/IRQ/CO/2-4, March 2015; see also, US Department of State, <i><a href="https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/2019-Trafficking-in-Persons-Report.pdf" class="spip_out" rel="external">Trafficking In Persons Report</a></i>, 2019.</p>
</div><div id="nb30">
<p><span class="spip_note_ref">[<a href="/en/marriage#nh30" class="spip_note" title="Footnotes 30" rev="appendix">30</a>] </span>UN Commission on Human Rights, <i><a href="https://docs.un.org/en/E/CN.4/2006/61/Add.3" class="spip_out" rel="external">Integration of the Human Right of women and a gender perspective: violence against women, Report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, Yakin Ertürk, Addendum</a></i>, UN Doc. E/CN.4/2006/61/Add.3, 27 January 2006, para. 36.</p>
</div><div id="nb31">
<p><span class="spip_note_ref">[<a href="/en/marriage#nh31" class="spip_note" title="Footnotes 31" rev="appendix">31</a>] </span>UN <i><a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-consent-marriage-minimum-age-marriage-and" class="spip_out" rel="external">Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriages</a></i>, 7 November 1962, entered into force 9 December 1964, Article 1.</p>
</div><div id="nb32">
<p><span class="spip_note_ref">[<a href="/en/marriage#nh32" class="spip_note" title="Footnotes 32" rev="appendix">32</a>] </span><i><a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/international-covenant-civil-and-political-rights" class="spip_out" rel="external">International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights</a></i> (ICCPR), 16 December 1966, entered into force 23 March 1976, Article 23.3; <i><a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/international-covenant-economic-social-and-cultural-rights" class="spip_out" rel="external">International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights</a></i> (ICESCR), 16 December 1966, entered into force 3 January 1976, Article 10; UN <i><a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-elimination-all-forms-discrimination-against-women" class="spip_out" rel="external">Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women</a></i> (CEDAW), 18 December 1979, entered into force 3 September 1981, Articles 16(2) and 16(1)(b).</p>
</div><div id="nb33">
<p><span class="spip_note_ref">[<a href="/en/marriage#nh33" class="spip_note" title="Footnotes 33" rev="appendix">33</a>] </span>UNGA, <i><a href="https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights" class="spip_out" rel="external">Universal Declaration of Human Rights</a></i> (UDHR), Paris, 10 December 1948, Article 16.</p>
</div><div id="nb34">
<p><span class="spip_note_ref">[<a href="/en/marriage#nh34" class="spip_note" title="Footnotes 34" rev="appendix">34</a>] </span><i>CEDAW and CRC Committees, Joint recommendation on harmful practices</i>, op. cit.</p>
</div><div id="nb35">
<p><span class="spip_note_ref">[<a href="/en/marriage#nh35" class="spip_note" title="Footnotes 35" rev="appendix">35</a>] </span>See further on states’ obligations in relation to each of these terms, the relevant definitions in this A to Z.</p>
</div><div id="nb36">
<p><span class="spip_note_ref">[<a href="/en/marriage#nh36" class="spip_note" title="Footnotes 36" rev="appendix">36</a>] </span>See SCSL, <i>Sesay et al.</i>, Trial Judgment, op. cit., para. 1460; SCSL, <i>Brima et al.</i>, Appeals Judgment, op. cit., paras 187-203; Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Trial Chamber, <i><a href="https://www.eccc.gov.kh/sites/default/files/documents/E465_EN.pdf" class="spip_out" rel="external">Prosecutor v. Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan</a></i>, Case No. 002/19-09-2007/ECCC/TC, 16 November 2018, paras 3686-3694.</p>
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